Maikaze
by ArcanaElement
Summary: An ill-planned search for her missing father leads Yukimura Chizuru to the snowy capital of Kyoto, where she encounters the Shinsengumi, a ruthless group of talented rounin. With the interest of the trickster warrior Okita Souji locked onto her, what could possibly happen now?
1. Snow

[A/N] ~ Well, hello hello! Welcome to my first ever fanfiction~ Named it Maikaze after the opening of the second season of Hakuouki. It`s basically just a rewrite of the series with my own plot stuck in it. Not sure how well this'll be received, but one review with more than three words that`s somewhat encouraging would be welcome.

Disclaimer : I do NOT own Hakuouki, Shinsengumi, Hekketsu-roku, or otherwise, or anything related to the series or games. If it were up to me... Well, you`ll read about it. ;]

* * *

Snow fell down in dusty flakes as she raced through the empty alleyways, her ragged breathing appearing as puffs of white smoke in front of her. Her geta sank into the powdery snow and her short sword bumped against the brown haori covering her leg.

Footsteps echoed behind her as two rogues chased her, one shouting, "Stop right there, brat!"

Lanterns flickered dully in the light dusting of snow falling from the grey clouds. She paused at a crossing of alleys and ducked into one, nearly skidding to a stop behind a wooden barrel.

She panted heavily, trying to catch her breath as quietly as she could as she heard one of the rogues mutter, "Damn it! Where`d he go?"

The other replied, "He's a quick little devil!"

"Argh! He couldn't have gone far. Find him!" the first hissed loudly.

She rested her hands on the side of the barrel and froze with fear while one of the outlaws began walking closer. The 'shick' that reached her ears from down the alley told her that he'd drawn his sword. She prepared for combat as she placed her right hand on the gold-embossed hilt of her short sword, most likely the reason the rogues had started chasing her in the first place.

The footsteps got closer and closer until she could see the man's shadow on the far wall. She grasped her sword hilt tighter and…

"Guaugh!"

The shadow on the wall turned its head to face back behind it. The pursuing rogue yelled," Youichi! You bastard, what the hell?"

The rogue ran back down the alleyway, so she dared to look around the barrel to see what was happening.

"What…?" she whispered, her small voice lost on the wind.

A gruesome sight lay in front of her. Two white haired, red-eyed samurai wearing blue and white haoris were advancing from the opposite alleyway. One of them had struck down the other rogue and was repeatedly stabbing the corpse with a katana, staining the blade red with fresh blood. The other had caught the blade of her pursuer in his teeth and shattered it as if it were glass.

The rogue staggered back as he croaked with fear, "What the hell?"

He recovered quickly enough, throwing away the hilt of the broken blade and drawing the second sword at his waist in time to counter the ghoulish samurai`s swing at his head. The rogue grunted, pushed off the opposing sword and countered with a savage slash at the samurai`s shoulder. Blood sprayed in a heavy mist from the wound, yet the samurai did not seem fazed by the injury and instead uttered a crazed laugh and grasped his sword more tightly.

"What the hell are they?" the rogue managed to choke out before he was struck down with a stab to the stomach then through the head. She managed to quickly avert her eyes but still heard the sounds and had to cover her mouth to keep herself from making a sound that would give her away. Her brown eyes widened as the ghoulish samurai retraced the steps of the rogue, lumbering down towards her until she fell into his line of sight, turning his head towards her as she crouched behind the wooden barrel, shaking with fear.

"Eh…?" He saw her hiding, a terrible grin forming on his face. He lifted his bloody sword over his head and let loose a spine-chilling laugh as he prepared to strike her down.

_No… I can`t… I won`t die here!_

* * *

Well, that's it for chapter one. What'd anyone think? Please read, review, whatever~ x3


	2. Encounter

[A/N] ~ And, so, one day after its debut, I update the second chapter! Which might be the end of such updates for me for a while, since it`s alllllll still in a rough draft state after this. x_x I didn`t get a review -wahh-, but maybe I`ll be encouraged to write more if I get one soon...? -hinthint ;D-

So, enjoy Maikaze, chapter two!

Disclaimer : I do NOT own Hakuouki, Shinsengumi, Hekketsu-roku, or otherwise, or anything related to the series or games. If I did... Chizuru would be short a few hot samurai. I'd let her keep some, of course - the ones I don't like as much, if at all.

* * *

"I won`t die!" she yelled.

Her brown eyes and hair darkened to the jet black of a moonless night. She drew her sword blindingly fast to slice the blade of the samurai cleanly in half. He groaned with surprise, seemingly incapable of actual speech, and backed away from the standing figure of the slim girl with a short sword. She grasped her sword tightly, digging her heel into the powdery snow until it hit solid ground underneath. She dashed forward faster than the eye could follow, instantly beheading the samurai in front of her and slashing the arm off of the second samurai who had finished stabbing the corpses. Blood danced in a morbid recreation of the falling snow from the stumps of the missing body parts, somehow missing her own person and instead coloring the snow around her feet crimson red. She paid the blood-leaking appendages no heed while flinging the blood off of her blade onto the wall beside her. Flicking her black ponytail behind her shoulder, she sheathed her sword and began to walk away, a picture of perfect carnage painted by the bodies and blood behind her.

Too soon had she assumed victory, for the second samurai, missing one arm but still somewhat alive, stood and began to charge at her back with his own katana, giving an unearthly shriek.

She had turned to face the oncoming samurai, black eyes flashing and hand on the hilt of her sword, when a loud 'shlack' occurred. She found the tip of a glinting, now crimson-covered blade to be protruding from the chest of the samurai when the body came fully into her view. The blade twisted and retreated swiftly, allowing the stilled corpse to fall to the ground. Blood leaked from the double-sided wound in a stream of dark fluid, and she unconsciously backed away from the encroaching fluid. The body didn't so much as twitch as its killer stepped around it fluidly, eyes sweeping the area.

The holder of the blade, now flung clean of blood, was a man a head taller than her. He wore a blue and white haori that was identical to that of the ghoulish samurais', and a white scarf, the ends of which fluttered against his back. Long violet hair in a ponytail held together by a plain white ribbon settled into place in front of his shoulder. Dark sapphire eyes glanced at her before flickering to the side, cataloging the corpse that lay there, dead before his arrival.

"Man, that sucks."

She saw another man turn the corner, wearing the same blue and white haori. With shorter, shoulder length russet hair tied back into a reverse topknot at the back of his head, his forest green eyes glimmered with mirth. He fingered one of the two sword hilts on his waist, decorated with a pattern of red diamonds.

"I was going to kill them all myself," he complained. "Hajime-kun, you only work efficiently at times like this."

"I merely did my job," the violet-haired man replied before turning his dark blue eyes to her.

The red-haired man walked down the alleyway to stand next to him and caught her gaze, which had now reverted back to its normal hazel color, along with her hair. He smirked slightly and took a step back, the folds of his haori billowing forward in the cool breeze. The crunch of the newly-fallen snow underneath a sandal alerted her slowly-numbing mind to the presence of another person.

Less than a second later, she found herself staring down the tip of a katana directly in front of her. The cold moonlight glinted off of the edge of the blade, flashing death many times over in the span of a split moment.

"Listen up," a voice sounded. "Don't try to run. You're dead if you show your back to me."

She caught sight of the man holding the blade. Her breath caught in her throat and she pressed herself against the concrete wall behind her, trying to distance herself from the lethal sword and the man behind it. Adrenaline abandoning her, she felt her body shutting down as she tried her hardest to keep up with the demands of her mind while using the cold wall to keep herself upright.

The man's back-length black hair flowed in the wind as if floating in a river. Cold violet eyes pierced her gaze. Set into a hard line, his mouth matched the rest of the angular features on his slim face.

She was losing the battle with herself. The edges of her vision grew fuzzy, and the last image she saw before passing out was the snow dancing in the wind like cherry blossom petals around the black-haired man holding a sword to her face with the other two men flanking him, the russet-haired man still smirking at her.

* * *

[A/N] - Did some edits on 8/25. Added a few words here and there, trying to make it look nicer but really to get the word count higher because I realized how sad-looking the first few chapters are compared to the more recently posted ones.

Please, read and review! Reviews are like candy with the satisfactory feeling and no cavities! But you all are sweet, you know. :D


	3. Author's Note

Hi everyone!

Happy holidays and all that. ;3

Well, the main purpose of this note is to let everyone that reads and reviews for this story is AWESOME - and that I`m still alive.

-le gasp!-

Sou, sou, that's how it is. I`m on winter break right now and Persona 3 Portable can only take up so much of my time, so I think I may work on Maikaze once again. Since I posted the second chapter, I haven`t typed any more of the 156 written pages in my rough draft due to how busy I am with school - and that, if you check my profile, you`ll see some new animes and mangas I`ve been seeing, which do end up taking up a lot of my time, due to the fact that I get rather Immersed int hem once I start one I like. Forgot to add Kobato to it, self note for later.

So long story short, working on chapters 3+ currently, hope to have one up very verrryyy soon - perhaps even tomorrow. And review, please? I LOVEEEEE everyone that's reviewed so far. EVERYONE! :D All my readers too, but especially those reviewers.

I`ll post individual responses to each review that said more that 'please update' on the next chapter - because, really, I appreciate it, but I`d like constructive criticism, perhaps a bit of praise ;3, and definitely questions (I love answering questions :D ) about my story, rather that two quickly typed, not very thought out words. Wouldn't all writers? owo

And so I bid you adieu. Ja ne! x]


	4. Return

[A/N] - Ohayoo, minna-san!

I am SO sorry I didn't post the chapter yesterday - my mom decided to stay home from work since it was raining so much - yes, it's just so wonderful here on the West coast - and I don't like working on stuff while she's around because she bugs me about every three and a half minutes for something which makes it hard to work on stuff.

I`ll be posting the response to reviews at the bottom, so you don't have to scroll past them all just to read the story. ;3

And also. I`ll be expecting **at least** _**three **_**reviews**** THAT SAY MORE THAN JUST, "please update soon, I like your story, [the end of the review]." **Just because I`m greedy like that. And I really do love it when you all write stuff that can help me improve my writing, or help you understand it a bit more, or that can just let us have a nice chat. ;3

Disclaimer: Chapter one, please. :]

* * *

"My, my." The red-haired man chuckled slightly, falling onto his knees to sit on his legs next to the unconscious form. "Hijikata-san, you scared him so badly, he passed out.

Kneeling down to look more closely at the bodies of the fiendish samurai, Saitou asked, "Lieutenant, what would you want me to do with the corpses?"

"Take off their haori and leave them," the black-haired man replied. "We'll let the investigators handle the rest?"

"And what should we do with him?" the red-haired man asked amusedly, gesturing towards the fallen, breathing form near his feet.

Turning slightly, Hijikata answered, "We'll take him back with us."

"Really?" the red-haired man said, slightly surprised. "We're not going to kill him? He saw everything…"

Hijikata stood silently for a moment, the wind blowing the light snowflakes around him, before he said, "We'll deal with him when we get back." He turned on his heel and walked away from the other two men down the street and past the bloodied corpses.

"Ah man, can't be helped then." The red-haired man sighed. "Hajime-kun, feel like helping me cart this guy back to headquarters?"

"I should think that you are capable of carrying him yourself, Souji," Saitou replied as he stood up. He started walking after Hijikata, leaving a trail of footprints in the snow behind him.

Souji scratched the back of his head and muttered, "Helpful and kind as always." He readjusted his katanas at his waist and lifted the unconscious figure with ease.

_He's pretty light for a kid. Bit on the short side too. Reminds me of Heisuke, _Souji mused as he started to follow Saitou and Hijikata. However, he took only a few steps forward and slipped slightly in the powdery snow. He clutched the kid closer to him reflexively to keep from himself from dropping him. The kid's torso fell more heavily against his upper arm and Souji nearly fell over again after regaining his balance. He looked down into the kid's pale face, confused.

_This kid's not a guy?_

Shaking his head, Souji kept walking. _Somehow, I just know this is going to make things a lot more interesting from now on. _He chuckled silently.

Saitou caught Souji's slip from the corner of his eye. "Here I thought you capable of carrying him back to headquarters. Do you really require my help that badly?"

"I`m fine, thanks," Souji said, rolling his eyes. "But I think we need to treat _him _a bit more carefully."

Saitou noticed the emphasis. "Is he not a he?"

Souji chuckled. "See for yourself." He held out the unconscious figure easily.

"Lieutenant," Saitou called out. Hijikata turned around and waited somewhat impatiently.

Saitou held his hands out a bit awkwardly, as if he were receiving a food tray. Souji swiftly placed the kid in his hands. Saitou's stance didn't change and he said, "Rather light. So _he _is really a _she_." He handed her back to Souji - she remained unconscious.

"Isn't this great, Hijikata-san?" Souji said to him, calling out past Saitou. "You saved a girl _and _you're taking her back to headquarters. Our _all-male _headquarters." Souji snickered.

Hijikata sighed and continued walking.

They reached the headquarters in due time. No one was at the front gate to meet them, as they were most likely out on their rounds or asleep in their quarters within the residence. They walked straight through the wooden arch denoting the entrance to the headquarters.

Hijikata stopped at the sliding shoji door that led into the planning room of the headquarters. "I'll inform the Captain of the situation," he said. "Saitou, gather the other unit captains and meet me in this room here. Souji, join us after you've tied her up so she can't escape later."

The two other men nodded and Hijikata walked away down the empty corridor, sparing no more words. Saitou left and shed his blue and white haori as he walked down a perpendicular hallway, around a corner so that Souji could no longer see him.

_Why do I always get these kinds of jobs? _Souji sighed and walked down to one of the extra rooms around the open courtyard, meant for guests whenever any stopped by. The courtyard itself was now dusted with snow, covering the trees, bushes, and the roof of the well next to the wooden steps that led into it from the hallway.

Souji slid the door open with his foot and laid her down onto the futon on her stomach, her face towards him. He scratched his head. _How am I supposed to do this politely without waking her up?_

Thinking for a moment, he formed his resolve and untied his white headband, catching the steel plate that fell out from it. He tied it around her mouth tightly and found some rope hanging on the wall. He swiftly tied her forearms, wrists, and hands together behind her back with a series of criss-crossing knots.

_That should do it, _Souji thought, sitting back on his feet. _I'm kind of hoping Hijikata-san doesn't end up wanting to kill her. It'd be boring not to have another person hanging around. Be a bit of a shame to see her head separated from her shoulders too._ He noticed her sword still on her waist and smirked. He took it from the tie around her waist and hid it near the door, where she'd be able to see it but anyone else walking in wouldn't be. _This is just my way of making things more interesting - for me. _Stretching, he pulled a blanket out from the wooden cabinet near the back of the room and draped it over her.

_Hijikata-san told me to go to the planning room after I was done… Eh. I`ll go get some sleep, _Souji decided. _They'll wake me up when they want me._

* * *

I hope this doesn't get me in trouble. I`ve heard some stories have gotten deleted for responding to reviews like this. Hope for the best, everyone! ;-;

Goes in order of who posted first, second, etc. Don't get mad at me if you're last, please. ;A;

thisisapaperplane - YES, SHE ACTUALLY DID SOMETHING! :D Hopefully I can get her to do more in the future. ;3 And thank you very much! :D

KW - Long response for two exceptional reviews, maybe? ;3 I was aiming for that, that she'd be able to take care of herself a little more. I don't want her to be a Mary Sue, but I don't want her to be a sack of potatoes, like she is now. That's actually the reason why I started writing this in the first place - it made me so mad that Chizuru a) has a sword but never uses it, b) goes 'KYAHH' whenever something bad starts to happen to her, and c) can't pick herself up off the floor with her powers and help herself.  
You observant person, you. Yep, she has a bit of oni-power to her right now, which is why her eyes and hair aren't white and golden - yet. A bit of my weird, edited storyline for you there. I`m actually not sure when I`ll start editing the storyline majorly - right now, I`m just kinda transcribing the anime into words and working my way up from there. All three chapters so far add up to maybe four minutes of the anime and eight pages of handwriting the dialogue and how I describe it. When I first started, it surprised me how much I could write about thirty seconds of the anime. ;3  
Unfortunately, I don't own any of the games. x[ I picked up on the anime actually before the anime club at my school decided to show it for us, but you can bet I was squealing like a fangirl when they said they were showing it to us. x]  
Yup, Souji didn't turn the corner until after Saitou killed the rest, so he doesn't know anything yet. c:  
Annd there's a poll up for that pairing there. I do prefer most of the characters with Chizuru, though I do have my favorites, so even without any of the results from the post, I already kind of have an idea for how it's going to go. Once I've formed my resolve, I'll change the pairing setting. :D  
Thank you very much for your two awesome reviews! Consider yourself my favorite reader! d(^-^)b

Msanimefan10 - Yup, I`m still writing. That's my favorite part so far too. xD Thanks for the review! ^-^

And to everyone who's read this story, thank you alllllll so much, happy holidays, since tomorrow is Christmas Eve, enjoy my little present to you, drinks lots of hot chocolate, stay warm, and please review!

**_HAPPY HOLIDAYS, MINNA!_**


	5. Familiarization

[A/N] - HI HI HI! Long time no see! :O By the way, read these please? :D

…. Yes, that's entirely my fault and I'm SO SORRY. I only have the typical excuses -school, homework, clubs… I decided to write a bit when I got home early today and finished this chapter(!).

I haven't written more of this story (since there are already 120+ pages of prewritten rough draft - this chapter goes to the beginning of page 14), and instead have been working on my Persona 3 fanfic. I'm rather proud of it, actually. x3

That's actually because I've seen the final episode of Hakuouki - Hekketsu-roku, alongside the whole season and it all just freaking depressed me to the point where I couldn't write anymore. Stupid endings.

So in the meantime, I'll type my rough draft. And possibly post my Persona 3 fanfic. If you like P3, read it when I post it, maybe? It'll be based off of P3P, with both the FeMC and MC. :3

Disclaimer: Chapter one, please? :]

BIG NOTE : I know, I'm greedy, but **at least three well-sized, decently-thoughtout reviews** will motivate me to type more when I have time. Please? :3

* * *

The sound of birds chirping and the swish of snow falling on snow roused her early in the morning. Her dark brown eyes fluttered for a moment then snapped wide open as she regained her senses. Thrashing around and trying to move, she found herself to be tied and gagged underneath a heavy red blanket.

_Where am I…?_

The morning light dully filtered through the paper door and window. The silhouette of a man appeared behind the door as it slid open.

"Ah, I see you're awake," the man said as he saw her looking at him with wide eyes. He entered the room and knelt next to her. "I'm sorry we've had to treat you like this."

He pulled the blanket off her and said, "I'm going to untie the rope, so please be patient." She watched him warily as he leaned over her bound arms and tugged at the rope. The man sighed and murmured, "Souji's so rude! This is tight enough that it must have hurt." Undoing the last knot, he asked, "Can you sit up?"

She did so and allowed the gag around her mouth to be untied.

"Ah… E-excuse me, but where is this? Who are you?" she asked. She rubbed her forearms slightly, trying to get the blood flowing back into her hands. They were numb from the rope and she could see marks on them that would last for a while.

"Oh my, pardon my rudeness." The man smiled at her apologetically. "I am Inoue Genzaburou. You are in the Shinsengumi's headquarters."

She recoiled from him. "The Shinsengumi?" _Those bloodthirsty samurai working under the shogun…? The people in town told me they slash down anyone in their way…_

Noticing her panicked expression, Inoue assured her, "There's no need to be started. Please come with me." He held up the rope and she put her hands out in front of her for him to tie together.

"I truly am sorry we've had to do this," he apologized as they exited the room and walked through the narrow halls. He held the loose end of the rope that tied her hands together - to keep her from escaping, she assumed, if she tried.

They reached a large room facing the snowy courtyard and Inoue slid the door open before her. "Now, go in."

She bowed her head to him slightly to mask her nervousness and stepped into the room, head down. Only when a lazy "Morning!" greeted her did she look up to see eight other men sitting in the room.

A red-haired man with forest green eyes wearing a dark red haori and brown _umanori_ hakama sat on the floor leaning against a sword, smirking up at her.

"I'll assume you did." His smirk grew wider. "Considering that you've got tatami marks on your face."

Chizuru blushed, bringing her hands up to cover her face with an embarrassed, "Eh?"

"That's enough, Souji. She's taking you seriously."

Her hands dropped and she looked at a violet haired man with dark blue eyes wearing a black kimono and a white scarf draped around his neck.

He talked at her, not meeting her eyes as he said, "There aren't any marks on your face."

The red-haired man, Souji chuckled and said, "You're a party-pooper, Hajime-kun. You didn't have to spoil my fun."

Chizuru pouted slightly, the blush still burning in her cheeks.

"Boys!" The word drew her attention to see the man from last night that had threatened her. Dressed in a purple haori and grey _umanori_ hakama, he glared at the trio. "I've had enough of your childishness."

"Fine…" Souji tilted his head indifferently.

A younger boy with long brown hair in a ponytail wearing a green sleeveless haori and leather bracers turned his dark green eyes on her and said skeptically, "So he's the witness? He's a real shrimp! He's still a kid!"

An older man with short, spiky brown hair held back by a green headband and wearing a loosely tied black sleeveless haori ruffled the boy's hair and laughed. "You're not one to talk, Heisuke!"

Another man with longer, unruly red hair tied back at the nape of his neck wearing a loose white and red trimmed haori smirked, making his golden eyes crease at the corners. "Damn right! To us adults, you're still a kid too!"

Tossing off the older man's hand from his head, the younger boy Heisuke retorted, "Shut up! You two old farts shouldn't even bother!"

Plopping his hand back on Heisuke's head with greater force, the brown haired man said, "What was that, kiddo?"

"It's not your place to call me an old fart, but you can call Shinpachi whatever," the red-haired man snickered, jabbing a thumb at the other man.

"Jerk!" Shinpachi rounded on him. "You're stabbing me in the back, Sano!"

She watched their exchange with mild amusement until she heard the man with short black hair and obvious authority say, "That's enough, you three!"

She jumped back a bit in surprise as he glowered at the offending trio, who dropped their argument right away.

The man with shoulder-length brown hair sitting next to him wearing glasses turned to her and said, "I apologize for their rowdy behavior. There's no need to be afraid. Please, shut the door and have a seat."

She turned around to find Inoue gone. "Ah… okay." Grasping the edge of the door with her still-bound hands, she slid it shut, then fell to her knees to sit opposite Saitou with Souji to her left and Heisuke, Shinpachi, and Sano sitting behind him against the wall.

The authoritative man said, "I'm Kondou Isami, Captain of the Shinsengumi." Turning his head towards the brown-haired man on his right, he continued," Sannan-kun is my first sergeant. And," he turned his head to face the man with long black hair on his left, "Toshi - excuse me, Hijikata Toshizou is the- "

"Kondou-san!" Hijikata cut him off with an incredulous look on his face. "Why are you introducing everyone?"

Taken aback, Kondou said, "S-something wrong with that?"

"There's no need to introduce ourselves to someone we're about to interrogate," Shinpachi said, shrugging his shoulders.

"Ah well, it's just like Kondou-san to be polite and proper," Sano said amusedly.

Kondou cleared his throat and said, "Now then, let's get down to business." He faced Saitou and said, "First, I'd like you to recount what happened last night, Saitou-kun."

Saitou turned his head to Kondou, but now kept his eyes trained on her. "Last night, two failed soldiers skirmished with some infidel rounin. We took care of them," he completely faced her to allow the full weight of his gaze to fall on her, "but this kid saw everything.

_Failed soldiers? What does he mean by that? _Chizuru wondered, then mentally shook her head clear. _… That's not what I should be worried about! Ah… What should I do? If I admit to seeing it, who knows what they'll do… But then, if I lie and they find out, it'll be the same anyway…_

The latter option won out in her mind, so she said aloud, "I didn't see anything!"

"Really?"

She turned at the lazy question to see the four others on her left looking at her and so matched Heisuke's probing eyes to the question.

"I didn't!" she defended herself again.

Did she imagine her voice faltering…?

"Hm… Glad to hear it, then." Heisuke leaned back on his hands.

"Oh?" Shinpachi interjected. "But according to Souji, you were helping those punks."

"No!" she cried, horrified. "I wasn't! I was running away from them…" She paused, her memory becoming fuzzy as she held her hands to her forehead. "And then… you Shinsengumi came…"

"In other words, you saw our soldiers kill off those rounin," Shinpachi reasoned.

"Your eyes say everything," Sano said lightly. "That's not a bad trait in and of itself, but…"

Souji chuckled. "Let's just kill him. That's the easiest way to keep him quiet."

Chizuru gasped, lifting her head from her hands though her memory still hadn't returned. "You can't!" she objected, frightened.

"Watch your mouth!" Kondou said angrily. "We can't go around killing civilians."

Souji held his hands up in a form of surrender. "You don't have to glare at me," he replied. "I was just joking."

"There's a time and place for joking around," Hijikata intoned.

She fell forward to bow on her bound hands. "Please spare me! I swear I won't tell a soul!" _It can't just end here…_

A short silence ensued, then, "I've heard enough," Hijikata said. "Take him away."

Saitou stood and grasped her by the shoulder, roughly pulling her up and out of the room while she pled desperately, "Please, don't! I won't tell anyone! Please believe me, I really -"

He pushed her down into her original room and locked his dark blue gaze with her frightened eyes. "I suggest you prepare for the worst. Things appear rather bleak for you."

A spark of emotion in his eyes disappeared in a flash as he turned and slid the door shut behind him with a sharp snap.

_What's going to happen to me now? _Chizuru thought despairingly.

* * *

… Hey look, this one is a long one. owo

Uhmm…. oh yeah. Reviews, reviews. Uhh… I'm so tired. I don't want to type out a bunch of responses… ;-;

Sorry! Maybe next time…

But anyway. Read, please review, enjoy your days, and wait for my Persona 3 fanfic! Thank you so much everyone! :D


	6. Attempt

[A/N - please read these through? :3 ] - Heya everyone! Did you miss me? x]

-gets mauled-

… Well, isn't that a pretty sight. x3x

I'm so sorry for dropping off the face of the earth for the past four months - my life has just been crammed with all work and pretty much no play unless you count the hours I took off of sleeping to watch anime. Explains why I woke up late…

ANYWAY. A new chapter may hopefully appease the appetites of the people who haven't yet given up on me. For those who haven't, THANKS SO MUCH, LOVE AND COOKIES FOR ALL -glomp-. :D

Disclaimer: No own, even after all this time. To be expected, ne? :L

Selfish request: **Three decent reviews?** Unsigned reviews may not count, by the way, since I read a review that went along the lines of, "Oh, you'll post more if you get more reviews? Then I can just make more unsigned accounts and review more than once." Yeah, that's not going to go well with me. =3=

P.S. - My Persona 3 fanfic is coming along nicely in the rough draft stage - about 70 pages front to back written out, even though it doesn't yet compare to the 124 I have written out for this. But as I mentioned before, I've rather lost my passion for this story, so no more pages have been written for this. :[

* * *

The sun began to sink below the snow-encrusted horizon as she sat in the room, having managed to undo the rope that had chafed at her hands for quite a while until she'd stopped to even think about making herself more comfortable. Upon further inspection - and with lack of something better to do - she found her short sword leaning against the wall in the corner behind a small table with a glass vase and silk flower on top, the reason why she had not noticed it earlier. She assumed that Souji person had left it there after he finished tying her up, with the knowing glint in his eyes she'd noticed while he talked to her.

She sighed, unconsciously running her hand along the gold diamond detailing on her sword's sheath and tracing each of them with the tip of her finger. _He seemed like he was trying to get me killed, with what he told the rest of them… I wouldn't put it past them, to be honest._

That thought led her to think about the Shinsengumi as a whole. _I have to admit, they are very… nice looking people. _She'd never seen such men in her hometown - most were fairly old or fairly young. She'd entertained the little ones there more than once while their parents went out on errands, and she had enjoyed it each time. _I suppose if they hadn't been discussing whether or not to kill me, I'd say they have a good sense of humor as well._

Such a morbid thought made her shake her head and stay her hand on her sword as it clenched around the cool wooden sheath. _They were deciding whether or not to kill me when I was dismissed, so I'm sure by now they've decided to go through with it. It's obvious they're putting their own objectives over the life of some random person they found out on the streets in the dead of night. All they'd have to do is cover this up with their reputation, right? It's not as if anyone would know I'm gone anyway... _Her lasting shock from the Shinsengumi's conversation - which had given her some twisted sense of calm - was giving way to despair, but she forced it down, gripping the sheath in her hands even more firmly, making her knuckles pale. _No. I have to help myself, even if I can't help others._

_I have to escape._

Her resolve stood with her as she slid the shoji door open slightly, peering out through the small crack it provided. Seeing no one around, she opened the door slightly more and let herself out, careful not to trip or let her sword hit the door frame as she closed the door behind her and proceeded to tiptoe around the courtyard toward the hallway leading away from it. The cold bit into her exposed hands and face and made her breath rise in the air above her head - she normally liked to stop and watch it fade into the air, but under the circumstances, that wouldn't have been a logical reason to stop. She glanced around warily, imagining someone jumping out at her from behind the many doors that lined the walkway.

Sooner than she had hoped, her sensitive ears picked up muted footsteps behind her. Initial fear cried out in her mind. _They've found me! They're going to kill me!_

… _They're going to kill me._

… _I'm going to die._

… _I'll die._

_I can't die here._

Her eyes and hair seemed to be splashed with free-flowing tar as they darkened to a pitch black that gave off no color besides black and its white shine. Grasping the sword hilt at her waist, she pivoted on her heel and quick-drew her short sword against her pursuer.

* * *

Souji had barely any time to react to the deadly blade nearing his neck, just managing to bring his own sword up to block the assault. The 'ting' of metal on metal resounded through the open courtyard. His arm shuddered slightly under the force of the blow and he raised an eyebrow in surprise, steadying his sword arm.

_That speed... She can probably give Hajime-kun a run for his yen. And that force - where does it come from? _He pushed her back with a bit of effort as he pondered the origins of her strength. He noticed that her eyes and hair appeared darker, but assumed it must be from the overhang of the hall that was shadowing her face and shoulders due to the setting sun.

"Do you really want to fight it out here? It's not going to be pretty if blood gets on the floor - or in the snow either, for that matter." He held his sword loosely but was prepared to block another strike if she ignored him.

"You must let me go." Her reply came in an eerily calm voice, as compared to when they'd dismissed her from the meeting room a couple hours before.

"Didn't Hijikata-san say last night that he'd kill you if you tried to run?" _Although, with the way she handles that sword, I doubt that he'd get out of it without at least a little blood. Maybe I shouldn't have left it in her room… _He mentally shook his head and smirked. _Nah, that wouldn't be nearly as fun._

"You would kill me if I did not run," she replied, leveling her sword at his chest. "I cannot die yet. There is still something I must do."

Her monotone voice wavered towards the end and her grip on her sword tightened, keeping her hand from shaking.

His instinct told him to keep his guard up, but as her studied her, he thought that she didn't really seem like she wanted to fight - she just wanted to be heard out.

"It's something you're willing to risk your life for." He said it as a statement as a testament to the situation she was in right now - willing to fight for her freedom to do what she had to.

She nodded.

He sighed and sheathed his sword. And here he thought he'd be able to have some fun too. "They sent me out here to call you back anyway. You can tell them your story there."

She stared in surprise, then sheathed her sword and fell to her knees, bowing forward onto her hands at his feet. "Thank you very much!"

Taken aback by her rapid change in attitude, he scratched the back of his head, running his fingers through the red hair there. "You don't have to do that… Come on, let's go. Everyone's waiting."

He held his hand out to help her stand up and she looked at it, her brown eyes seeming slightly puzzled. She smiled slightly as she took it and got to her feet.

_Pretty small and light, _Souji noted as he held her hand for her. _Hard to believe that felt like it could send my sword flying from just one hit. Warm, too. I'm surprised it hasn't frozen through with the frost out here._

She let go of his hand quickly once she'd righted herself and followed after him silently as they walked down the hall and returned to the meeting room. Sliding the door open, Souji let her enter first before he shut the door behind them.

* * *

Yush, please read this? :D **Bolded words are the main points of my drabble that runs on and on and on...**

About 1,300 words in this, not including the A/N. I'm rather proud now. Even though I know it can't compare to most of the wonderful authors on this site. ;w;

A few notes on my process of editing. If I could describe it in one word, it'd probably be "**slapdash,**" or maybe, "**nonexistent**." I **edit as I type it out**, which is why it takes me a while to get to the final product - the chapter you all wait impatiently for due to my procrastination. It's also the reason why I don't update as much as I should - it takes me a while to get over the procrastination wall to start typing, and after that, I need a couple hours to finish.

I'll give an **honorary mention** to whoever can find a legitimate typo/mistake in detail in this, since I'm pretty neurotic about spelling and grammar and haven't seen the anime in a while. :]

Look out for my Persona 3 fanfic, which I am still writing, but you can hope, ne? :P

**Visit my profile** if you have the time - there're a bunch of things there that I'd love to discuss with other people that share my interests. Sometimes there are **polls **on my profile too. I like to see if people actually take them. :3

**Please review! - I may not say it, but I do read them all and reply in PM's_ if they're signed_**_,_ though I may resort to the under-the-story method again. I love all my readers and reviewers, but not any flamers - don't like, don't read, don't waste your time writing hate, right?

Thanks so much, everyone! Support makes me type more~ :D

**Interesting facts:**

- Out of about 17 written pages - meaning 8 and a half front to back - I've gotten 5 chapters with about 6500 story words that cover about 9 minutes of the first episode of the first season.

- In the POV change to Souji, I'd initially meant it to be Hijikata who catches her, like it is in the anime, but looking back on what I wrote, the words didn't seem like something Hijikata would say, so I shifted it to Souji and changed the words a bit.

~ Honorable mention to Litschi, whom I hope is still reading this story, for reviewing on all chapters of my story and spamming my e-mail with review alerts. You're my favorite reader now! :D ~


	7. Explanation

[A/N] - It's a wonderful day to be aliiiiiiiiii -

-mauled by readers-

…. Nevermind, ehehe…

And so, welcome back to Maikaze, the new installment of chapter 6! I'm supremely happy that school is over, but I'm stuck in summer school for getting-ahead reasons, so I don't really have as much time as I'd like. However, it's only for 4 days a week, so I had today (Friday) off and decided to finally get back to this story. Though it did just take me the better part of five hours to plow through. Pleasepleaseplease let there be no mistakes or typos…

It's not been abandoned~ Despite the fact that I've not posted anything in a LONG while, I have read every single review that's come through my e-mail's inbox, and I must say I love each and every one of you! You're all so supportive and I can't believe I, as such an amateur writer, have such wonderful readers. Thank you so much!

-sappysideover?yeah.-

Saa, ikimashou! Let's get on with the chapter!

* * *

After following Chizuru in and sliding the door shut, Souji sat back down in his original place in front of Sano, Shinpachi, and Heisuke, once again leaning on one of his red-patterned swords.

"Well, welcome back," Souji said loftily, waving a hand towards Chizuru and smirking.

"A-ah… Thank you," she replied a bit uncertainly as she took her own seat, sitting formally in _seiza_-style.

"Souji…"

"Yes, Hijikata-san?" Innocent.

"Why didn't you take his sword away?"

"Because you didn't tell me to." Snickering.

Hijikata pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger, sighing his annoyance.

"There wasn't a problem with him having it anyway, you can see. But before you let the sword fall, there's something he'd like you all to listen to."

"Eh?" Heisuke expressed his surprise while he leaned back against the wall. "What's the point of that if we -"

Shinpachi hit him on the head with his fist and said, "Stuff it, kiddo, and listen to what he has to say."

As Heisuke grumbled his assent and rubbed his head, Chizuru's thoughts raced at a frantic pace. _They what? Were they really just going to kill me after bringing me back here?_

She glanced over at Souji, who was idly blowing loose strands of hair out of his face. He noticed her questioning gaze and met it with his own emerald eyes. A small smile flitted across his face and in that moment, she felt hope bloom in her chest as she brought her hand up to rest over her heart.

_Of course… I can't just give up._

She put her hands down to rest in her lap and bowed forward. "Thank you for allowing me to tell my story.

"I am Yukimura Chizuru. It happened half a year ago…"

* * *

"_Chizuru."_

"_Ah, yes?" she asked, turning from her house cleaning to look at her father standing in the open doorway, facing away from her and out towards the front of the house._

"_I'm afraid I must leave for Kyoto for a while."_

"_Oh… Is it for your work?"_

_He nodded._

"_You said 'for a while.' How long would that be, exactly?"_

_Her father bowed his head. "I'm not sure myself. It may be a month or two before I am able to return."_

"_I see…" Chizuru glanced to the side with a small frown. "Take care of yourself, Father. I've heard that Kyoto has become a dangerous place these days."_

_At that, he turned to face her, smiling at her concern._

"_Don't worry about me," he assured her. "I'll send you as many letters as I can, so you don't have to worry."_

_She nodded, smiling as well. "I'll be waiting for them."_

_He turned to face back outside. "That's all for now, then. Remember to speak with Matsumoto-sensei if you ever need anything. I'm sure he'll help you."_

* * *

"Father kept his promise and sent me letters." Chizuru smiled faintly at the memory. "They arrived almost every day, so often that I pitied the young boy delivering them to me. Some days, I never had a chance to reply."

Her smile faded and a frown came up to replace it. "But then his letters came to a halt for an entire month. Matsumoto-sensei was out of town, so I couldn't ask him if he knew what had happened. I felt that I couldn't just stay at home waiting, so I left my hometown of Edo to arrive here in Kyoto a few months later.

"However, I had no idea where my father was, not even the slightest idea where in Kyoto he could be, if he was still here at all." She laughed quietly, without mirth. "Now that I recount it, it seems to me to be an idiotic plan. I suppose when I first started out, I tricked myself into believing that I could actually do something for someone else."

_Perhaps it was only for myself, in the end…_

"Once I arrived here, I got lost, after which those rogue warriors found me and decided that they could take something from me that was worth some yen. And then…" She trailed off.

"I see. You came all the way from Edo!" Kondou said, awed and sympathetic. "It must have been rough…"

"So that's why a young lady, such as you, is disguised as a boy," Hijikata reasoned, hand on his chin.

Kondou nodded in agreement with his eyes closed, not really registering the words in the statement as something more than pity, until…

"…What?" Kondou exclaimed, eyes snapping open to stare at Chizuru in shock. "He's a she?"

"You - you're a chick?" Shinpachi burst out, an incredulous look on his face.

Heisuke leaned forward on his hands and objected, "No way! That's - that can't be!"

Kondou bent his head forward, as if a heavy weight was bearing down on his shoulders. "Ahh, I've made a huge mistake!" he grumbled, clutching his knees, and then hitting his forehead with the heel of his hand. "I never realized you were a girl!"

Souji laughed outright. "But it's so obvious. If not her face or her figure, then the way she was talking should have given her away."

"Maybe… but we don't have any proof," Shinpachi pondered.

Chizuru had a foreboding feeling as she asked hesitantly, "By proof, you would mean…?"

"Then why don't we have her strip?" Sano offered, laughing.

She clutched her arms to herself, flinching away from the men in the back slightly. "You're kidding!"

"Oi, Sano-san, I thought Shinpat-san was supposed to be the pervert here," Heisuke intoned, shaking his head.

"Well, yeah, that's true, but is there really a better way to find out?" Sano defended himself.

"Unacceptable!" Kondou yelled. "That's completely unacceptable!"

"Please calm yourself," Sannan broke in lightly.

"Ah, yeah, but, you know…" Flustered now.

Sannan turned to face Chizuru. "You said you are Yukimura Chizuru, correct?"

"Yes."

"Then, would your father happen to be Yukimura Koudou, a doctor of Western medicine?"

Her eyes widened. "Do you know my father?"

Hijikata's face paled.

"So you're Koudou-san's daughter? Odd, he never mentioned that he had one." Kondou scratched his head.

"… Just how much do you know?" Hijikata asked, staring at her.

"Know about what?" _What do they know about Father?_

"Don't dodge the question - I'm referring to Koudou-san."

"What do you mean? Has something happened to him?" she asked, her voice rising in pitch with fear.

"About a month ago, there was a fire in the clinic he worked at." Chizuru turned to face Saitou, who was speaking for the first time since she had reentered the room. His eyes appeared silvery in the candle light as he continued, "We haven't been able to find him since then."

"Although we aren't sure why, we haven't been able to find his corpse," Sannan added. "It's highly likely he has gotten involved in something we haven't identified yet."

"We are currently searching for him ourselves," Hijikata stated. "If you're willing to forget everything you saw last night, we will look after you until we find him."

"R-really?" she asked, eyes wide. _Something like that would be hard for most anyone to forget, but I'll do it for Father._

"Don't worry!" Kondou said with a grin. "We'll be sure to find him!"

"Thank you very much!" she said gratefully, bowing to him deeply.

"Ah well," he said abashedly, "it's the least we can do."

"Isn't it great that we don't have to kill you?"

She faced Souji, who was once again smirking at her, his green eyes creasing slightly at the corners.

"At least for now," he added, shrugging with his hands hidden in the sleeve of his red haori.

_He says that a lot. I'm sure under the right circumstances he'd follow through with that, but I suppose it's mostly just a good joke to him. _Such was her thought, so she went along with him. Smiling, she replied, "It is a good thing, Souji-san. I assume you'd be executioner if you had to though."

He raised an eyebrow and lifted a hand to his mouth. Laughing behind it, he said, "More or less."

"Well, we'll have to be nicer to you now that we know you're a girl!" Shinpachi said heartily.

"Shinpat-san's always nice to the ladies," Heisuke deadpanned, shrugging. "I personally don't think it's such a good idea to welcome her with such open arms. What if she's a spy or something?"

"Whatever!" Sano said, waving him off. "Everyone's going to get excited now that we've got a lady here to brighten up headquarters."

"It's not like we can tell everyone that she's a girl though," Souji pointed out.

"We can't treat her like one of our soldiers either," Sannan added. "We'll have to see what we can do."

"We just need to make her someone's attendant," Hijikata said.

_Are they going to treat me like a maid while I'm here? _Chizuru wondered, though not really put off by the thought. _It can't be too bad, compared to what they could do…_

"Would either you or Kondou-san be willing to do that, Sannan-san?" he asked the brown-haired man.

"Come now, Hijikata-san," Souji cut in, laughter in his words. "If you're the one who comes up with it, you should follow through with it.

Frowning, Hijikata shot Souji a glare that seemed to say, '_You're kidding.'_

Souji raised his hands in slight surrender, but still laughed at his expression.

"Ah, I'd trust her with Toshi!" Kondou said approvingly.

"But I -"

"There you have it, Hijikata-kun," Sannan said, smiling. "Please take good care of her."

Sano was cracking up in the back next to Heisuke and Shinpachi. "Go, Lieutenant! You're _so_ responsible!"

"This is great - less work for the rest of us!" Shinpachi joined in, leaning on Heisuke for support while he laughed, trying to catch his breath.

"Y-you jerks…" Hijikata muttered, pinning Souji with his annoyed stare.

Souji tucked his hands back in his sleeves with a satisfied smirk on his face. "Oh, did I say something I shouldn't have?"

Their joking faded into the background for a moment as Chizuru wondered with a slight pout, _What's going to happen to me?_

"Well, if I have to watch her, I suppose I have to make sure she gets enough sleep. Souji, lead her back to the room. You don't have to tie her up this time." Hijikata stood and exited, striding down the hall in a different direction than Chizuru had come from in the beginning.

"Can't be helped then. "Come on, Chizuru-chan, bed time." Souji got up and offered her his hand to help her stand from her stiff sitting position.

"Y-yes, thank you." _His hand is so warm. _She almost blushed in front of everyone but held it back somehow while she worked the pins and needles out of her feet by shifting slightly for a moment.

Before she exited the room after Souji, she turned to face the rest of the men in the room and bowed. "Good night, everyone," she said, smiling.

"'Night, Chizuru," Heisuke said, grinning at her.

"See you in the morning," Sano added.

"We'll make sure you get up early to attend to Hijikata-kun." Sannan chuckled, Kondou joining in.

Saitou simply nodded and offered her the faintest trace of an apologetic smile.

She bowed once more and stepped out the door, where Souji was waiting for her with one arm resting inside his haori outside of its sleeve. Closing the door behind her, she followed Souji down the hall back to the room she'd been kept in.

"Looks like your prison is your bedroom now," Souji stated.

Chizuru hummed her agreement, focusing on the sound of his feet hitting the wooden floor - so light, she strained to hear it. "Ah… by the way…"

"Hm?"

"Why did you tell Shinpachi-san and the rest of them that I was helping the rogue rounin?" _I'm still a little miffed that I could have died for being framed by a joker like him, even though it ended somewhat well in the end..._

"Oh, that? I thought it would be interesting to see your reaction," he replied lightly.

"… Okay, then," she said, not particularly disturbed. In front of her assigned room, she said, "Thank you for escorting me back here, Souji-san."

"Not like Hijikata-san gave me a choice, but you're welcome." He leaned against a wooden beam and looked across the open hallway to the snow-crusted courtyard, now lit by bright moonlight.

Seeing him, so ethereal when outlined by the moonlight, prompted Chizuru to break the comfortable silence and ask, "Souji-san, how old are you?"

He glanced from the courtyard to her and back again, his emerald eyes flashing. His lips quirked up in a smirk. "Older than you."

_Ooh, now who's dodging questions, Hijikata-san? _Chizuru grumbled silently.

"Really?" Chizuru played along. "You seem like you'd be -"

"Say that I seem like I'd be over twenty-seven and I will kill you." His tone carried that joking lilt, so she could tell he was kidding.

"Oh, nevermind then," she laughed.

Souji bumped himself off of the beam lightly and slid the door to her room open. She followed him inside questioningly as he rummaged around in the cabinets mounted on the wall.

"I remembered that all I let you sleep on was the floor last night so I figured I should get you a futon this time," he explained, pulling out said item from the cabinet and letting it drop onto the floor, after which he picked up the red blanket left on the floor. "Wouldn't want you waking up with tatami marks on your face again, now, would we?"

Chizuru blushed. "I was happy Saitou-san told me there weren't any - it kept you from messing with me!"

Souji laughed. "Well, do you need me to tuck you in then?"

Her blush grew hotter. "I-I'll be fine, thank you!" She took the blanket from his proffered hands.

"Good night then, Souji-san."

He moved to walk out the door. Stopping in the doorway, he tilted his head towards her. "Good night, _Chi - zu - ru - chan._" Smirking, he walked back down the hall and out of sight as she watched after poking her head out the door.

She quickly slid the door shut after pulling her head in, the blush on her face seeming to burn off the cool night air. _That was…What was that, really?_

Pushing her ponderings away for later, she slid under the heavy blanket after removing her sword and placing it next to the futon. She turned onto her side, facing the door and thinking about the past day's events.

_Somehow I became a captive, a witness, a prisoner, and a maid all within one day… Can anyone blame me for wondering what's going to happen next?_

With that, she fell into a restful sleep.

* * *

[A/N] - Chapter 6 no owari da! Kanpai!

Kidding, I don't drink. :D

So, I hope you all enjoyed this extra-long-by-my-standards-and-I-say-that-because-I-know other-people-write-waaaaaaay-longer-chapters-and-call-those-short-chapters… chapter.

I'm not sure when I'll get the next one out for this story, and I'm still writing my Persona 3 story as well. Summer school is killer, considering it's the equivalent of a week packed into one day with just as much homework…. -diesandrevives-

So, let's see if I can get my review replies done this time! I'll do the ones from 4/07 on because that was when the last chapter was posted - I apologize if I don't reply to someone's, but just know you're awesome anyway. :3

**Side notes:**

- _Seiza-_style is a formal way of sitting in Japanese culture where the legs are tucked under your body and you sit straight, but not stiff. This does, in fact, cut off circulation to the legs, but with practice, apparently it doesn't bother a person as much as when they first start.

- The distance from Edo to Kyoto is about 355 kilometers, or roughly 221 miles.

- **I made a poll to discuss what age Souji should be, since I want to make a fluffy birthday scene, but I can't find where it went. So leave your opinions in a review please? :3  
**And Souji told me to tell all of you guys not to label him as over 27. Just so you know~

* * *

xXxWolvesInTheNightxXx - Thank you very much!

Litschi - My favorite reader~ I'm so sorry you've had to poke and prod me for so long to get this chapter! D: I appreciate every review you've spammed me with and every PM you've poked me with; I can honestly say that each and every one helped me through typing this mass chapter here. Kanpai (Cheers)!

Conrii - Thanks muchly! Also, thank you for favoriting me as an author and my story! :D

ikeepitprivate - Haha, it's okay. I'm lazy too~ I apologize if the story seems slow, I'm just going literally by the script for now. Thank you very much for your reviews! :3

Nyccha - I know, meek Chizuru seemed okay from the start, but once the plot got going, it was just plain annoying. I totally want Souji though! Are there any plushies anywhere… Mistakes do tend to distract me from the flow of a story, especially my own, so I do my best to keep them from occurring. Adding in random details tends to add to the risk of a mistake though, so thank you for appreciating my efforts! Thanks for your review, favoriting my story, and adding it to your story alert! :3

NotAsBeautiful - Thank you very much for your review! I am continuing, just at a slower rate than I normally do - which is already pretty slow to begin with. Rest assured, even if I get no reviews or a hundred reviews, I will keep writing, though I do think it will take a while… Anyway~ x3 Thanks again!

LilyFragrance - Ah, should I call you Fan-chan? Thank you for your awesomely long review! I'm sorry I haven't updated quickly enough to keep you from having to reread these short chapters so much. D: Ergh, Chizuru in the final episodes of each season just makes me mad. I knew that lack of fighting strength was the one thing I had to change first when I started writing this story. I'm glad you liked my lines for the characters - that line you liked, I came up with it on a dime, since the POV change was a split decision for me. I wasn't sure if I was keeping the characters IC well enough, but you cleared my doubts! :3 OkitaxChizuru all the way! Well, as long as Chizuru isn't dead weight. Thanks once again!

Sivarien - My lazy reviewer without an account? Kidding, thank you very much for your praise and motivation!

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Thanks to Conrii (x2), WrittenByLeo (I'm sorry, the site won't let me put in the dots), Nyccha (x2), Ice Silverwind, SkylaZ, iced white sakura, NotAsBeautiful, vampire-fetish15, and LilyFragrance for all of your varied favorites and story alerts!

* * *

Phew. Review replies take me half as long as the chapter but always as much thought because you all deserve it! Thank you very much my readers and reviewers, my favoriters and watchers! I hope I didn't let you down! Read to enjoy, review to make me happier, and live, but don't stress (like I am, but it'll pass).

* * *

_**Last, but not least, I'd like to thank my comrade-in-writing and someone I'd like to consider my friend, Qu33rzi, for being awesome and talking me through the procrastination wall I've been having recently. You're awesome and deserve all the happiness in life you can get!**_

* * *

Subarashiki, kono sekai, ne? (It's a wonderful world, isn't it?)

Ja ne! :D


	8. Camaraderie

[A/N - Are you making sure you read these? Sometimes they're important. C: ] -

HAY HAO'S IT GOING? :D

- kidnapped and forced to write more story-

Figures. o3o

Again, welcome back to Maikaze, the new installment of… what the heck, what chapter is this anyway. I totally forgot, being away for so long. Dammit, summer school :[ Come to think of it, I wrote the last chapter before summer school started… Damn, that was about 2 months ago. I'M SO SORRY! I decided to get up off my ass today and try to do something half-way productive.

I really didn't _not _want to write this story anymore; I've just been so busy and I've found out my schooling restarts THIS MONTH, and I have a week-and-a-half long vacation coming up… TOMORROW, KUSO… - as well as the fact I've been watching too much anime/reading too much manga (Darker Than Black and Nurarihyon no Mago, anyone?), and playing Resonance of Fate (Zephyr's my favorite, and Neverland is a hellhole). I also played the otome game Starry Sky in Spring after watching the anime based off of it. Hard to pick favorites when they're all so pretty. I'd love to be Tsukiko surrounded by a bunch of pretty bishies. You know, kind of like how Chizuru is surrounded by all of her bishies too.

Okay, I'm dragging with excuses and fangirlishness. Monogatari ni kaishi! (Sorry if my fake Japanese offends anyone. :o )

* * *

"What do you think?" Hijikata asked the two men sitting behind him as he picked up his brush to write his daily report for the day. It was still light outside, the waning sunlight reflecting off of the scintillating snow. Only three of the several tall candles were lit to keep the room bright enough to work in.

"About? Her?" Souji replied, sitting on the wall with one of his swords leaning on his shoulder as he tapped the sheath with his fingers.

"Yes."

"She's kind of cute," he admitted with a smirk on his face, wholly intent on riling Hijikata up. "I don't dislike her. You're lucky we made her your attendant, out of all of us."

Hijikata sighed, having expected something of this nature to occur. "That is not what I meant." His features set into a more serious expression as he continued, "She came to Kyoto looking for Koudou-san and was attacked by our failed soldiers. It is hard to believe that is all merely coincidence."

"Do you believe the attack was a set-up so that she would be able to come here and spy on us?" Saitou voiced his thought, sitting formally upright to Hijikata's left, as opposed to Souji who was slouching against the wall.

"I doubt that," Souji said, scoffing at the idea. "I don't think she's capable of putting on an act like that. She genuinely had no idea what Hijikata-san was saying when he asked about Koudou-san. Not to mention, the failed soldiers are too volatile and unpredictable to jump through hoops like that anyway."

"You've put a lot of thought into this, Souji," Saitou noted, deep indigo eyes flicking over to meet Souji's emerald gaze.

Souji shrugged carelessly, his haori brushing against the sheath of his sword. "Thinking things through is a good way to make me fall asleep. It's more common sense anyway." He brushed away the reddish-brown hair falling in his eyes and silently struggled to stay awake.

"In any case, she may be useful in helping to locate Koudou-san in the future." With that, Saitou stood and exited the room quietly, leaving the shoji door open behind him.

Souji took the subtle aid and stretched, standing as well. "I'll get going too, Hijikata-san. I feel like walking around outside for a while."

"Make sure you come back in time. You're guarding her room after Sano until dinner."

"Thanks, Hiji - wait, what?" The emerald-eyed fighter did a double-take.

"Exactly what I said. To make sure she doesn't escape in the middle of the night, we'll take shifts guarding her room until further notice."

Souji fought the urge to smirk, thinking back to Chizuru's attempt to escape earlier that day. _She already beat you there, Hijikata-san._"… Well, fine, as long as Sano has first shift. I'm going to go take a nap, then. If I don't get enough sleep, I'll be more liable to kill her than to protect her from herself." He threw up his right arm in a backwards wave as he exited out the thin door left ajar.

"Sano will find you when it is time," Hijikata said in way of a send-off.

* * *

Chizuru opened the round window panel and looked out into the courtyard, using the stone flange of the window for support. The open area was padded with snow and laced with ice. Her breath fogged in front of her as it escaped from her warm body. She watched it disappear into the crisp air and shivered.

_It's freezing! _She thought as she rubbed her arms against the cold and looked outside. _I see now why people call Kyoto "the Snowflake Capital."_

She sighed, leaning forward with her elbows on the stone sill and her face in her chilled hands. "Those Shinsengumi aren't as terrible as I'd thought, though I wonder when they'll let me go search for Father," she murmured aloud. "I hope they aren't going to lock me away forever. It'd be such a bore, not to mention I'd be worried out of my mind."

"And here I thought all girls liked to be safe and protected," a voice sounded.

Chizuru gasped, bracing herself against the window frame as she looked around outside to find Souji sitting against the wall lazily.

"W-why are you here, Souji-san?" Chizuru cried out, already feeling her face growing warmer.

"Oh, you didn't notice me here? Maybe it's better for you if you stay inside then." He smirked up at her. "It's my turn to babysit you now, anyway."

_That's right… I'm under surveillance. I was wondering why Harada-san insisted on sitting here, of all places, to meditate, of all things… He's not the most subtle person I've met so far. But that means…! _"Did you … hear everything I said?" she asked, dreading the answer.

Souji's smirk widened.

She fell against the window, needing its support more than before. _I knew it - he heard me! _A resigned half-smile alighted on her face as she avoided his eyes.

"Dinner is ready. Your shift is about over."

She turned her head to see Saitou standing a few paces down the hall with a tray of steaming food in his hands.

"Saitou-san!" she said, surprised, and now wary. "Erm… Were you there the whole time?"

He nodded.

Chizuru sighed, depressed. _Even Saitou-san heard me. I didn't realize they were there and said all kinds of weird things. I almost don't want to know what they think of me now…_

"Hey!"

Heisuke appeared behind Saitou and said, "It's dinner time."

"I have an assignment," Saitou replied. "You can eat without me."

Seeing Heisuke's confused expression, Souji explained, "Hijikata-san told us that we have to watch her at all times."

Heisuke seemed more confused. "Then wouldn't it be easier if she just came out to eat with us?"

Chizuru was silently hopeful, seeing an escape from the monotony of her room in the form of a short, brown-haired boy with blue eyes.

"We were also ordered not to let her leave this room," Saitou said, rebuking Heisuke slightly.

"C'mon! Hijikata-san's out on a mission in Osaka anyway, and it's not like you'd benefit if you ratted her out anyway," Heisuke argued.

Souji had stood up and now intoned, "Good point. Just watching her eat wouldn't be any fun for you anyway, Hajime-kun."

He stepped forward, taking the tray out of Saitou's hands and placing it in Heisuke's.

The shorter boy looked down at his now-occupied hands, then up at Souji. "Eh? Why are you giving this to me?"

"It was your idea," Souji reminded him. "Come on; if we're late, Sano and Shinpachi will die from starvation."

"U-um…" Chizuru murmured, unable to make a sound out of indecision. To stay, risking her _figurative_ death at the hands of boredom, or to go, risking her _literal_ death at the hands of Hijikata-san…

Heisuke made the choice for her.

"Let's go then," Heisuke said, smiling at her, rather oblivious to her plight.

"Ah, okay, then. Thank you very much," she said, grateful for the chance to get out of her room - despite the risks it entailed - for a bit as she hurried down the hallway with her shorter stride. Heisuke grinned at her over his shoulder.

Souji slid open the door to what Chizuru assumed to be the dining room and was greeted with the sound of a growling stomach and Sano saying, "You're late," lazily.

"It's your fault my stomach's growling!" Shinpachi accused Souji.

Not wanting to cause a rift between the men, Chizuru quickly spoke up. "I'm sorry; it's my fault they're late."

"Hm? Why is she here?" Sano inquired.

"I invited her," Heisuke defended Chizuru, coming up from behind while holding onto the tray of food. "Got a problem with that?"

"Did we say that? I say it's not at all!" Shinpachi said, grinning. "The bigger the crowd, the better the food tastes."

"What he said," Sano agreed with a matching smile. "Hey, don't just stand there. Come sit down." He moved over to make a space for her to sit between himself and Shinpachi.

"Thank you. I'm sorry for the trouble," she said, bowing.

Heisuke walked past her as she straightened her back, his long brown hair swishing back and forth with the white cord that held it in place. Chizuru eyed the tassel on the end of it curiously.

"There you go," Heisuke said, setting the tray down in front of the now-empty cushion between the two.

"Thank you very much, Toudou-san," Chizuru said sincerely. _For making me feel welcome._

"Eesh, it's not that big a deal," he mumbled, averting his eyes and scratching the back of his head. "You're welcome anyway, but quit calling me 'Toudou-san' - it makes me feel like those old geezers." He jabbed a thumb towards Shinpachi and Sano. "Just call me Heisuke. Might as well, since everyone does."

"But…" she trailed off, turning her head away. _So easy to him to accepted by others. I'm envious._

"We're about the same age, so it feels kind of awkward anyway." Heisuke shrugged, grinning. "I'll call you Chizuru too."

"Ah, then… Thank you, Heisuke," she said shyly, her face heating at being so casual with someone she'd just met and suspected of planning to kill her.

"Perfect," he said approvingly, his grin turning into a smile. "Once again, it's a pleasure to meet you, Chizuru."

She wished she could hide her red blush and watery eyes as she nodded silently, offering a small smile back in return.

"… Oi, who are you calling old, squirt?" Shinpachi spoke up, his tone annoyed.

"Well, since you only just noticed that I said that, that makes you even older than I thought, grandpa."

Heisuke prodded Shinpachi, trying to get the older man to scoot over so that Heisuke could sit on the cushion to his right. Meanwhile, Chizuru walked around Sano to take her proffered place between him and Shinpachi. Souji's clear green eyes reflected her sitting image as he watched her with the lazy attentiveness of a confident predator while Saitou took a seat next to him. Chizuru took note of his attention.

_Once under surveillance, always under surveillance… Is that how it goes?_

With everyone seated, they allowed themselves to say, "_Itadakimasu_!" and dug in.

Or scraped their plates, if Shinpachi's complaints were anything to go by.

"Dinner's as sparse as ever!" Shinpachi complained, cataloguing the bowl of miso soup, vegetables, and grilled fish left on his tray after picking up the bowl of rice and his chopsticks. A sudden shifty light appeared in his eyes and he dragged his words. "So I guess I'll just…"

Grinning, he used his chopsticks and snagged a piece of Heisuke's fish, leading the flaky meat to his mouth and savoring it with a grin, much to Heisuke's annoyance.

"Hey! Why do you always steal my food?" the shorter warrior complained, trying to shield the remainder of his meal from the older man's prying chopsticks.

Shinpachi laughed. "Because of our size difference. Guys with bigger bodies need more food, you know," he said slyly, making a verbal jab at Heisuke's smaller stature. However, Heisuke was not one to be put down.

"Then that means I need all the food I can get since I'm still growing -!" Heisuke cut his declaration short as he tried to filch a piece of Shinpachi's own fish. Shinpachi beat Heisuke to it, though, devouring the whole fish in less than three bites, leaving only the thin, crispy tail behind.

"_That _was for calling me old again," Shinpachi gloated, chasing the fish down with mouthfuls of rice.

"Are you even chewing?" Heisuke asked incredulously. "At least spit out the bones! That's so gross." He uttered the last part with a put-off, sidelong glance at the fish tail left between Shinpachi's chopsticks, shuddering.

About to take the last bite, Shinpachi pulled the tail from in front of his mouth and held it in front of Heisuke's face mockingly. "Want it?"

"Hell no!"

"But I thought you wanted more food."

"They're always like this," Sano told Chizuru, sighing as he sat back, bracing himself on one arm with the other resting on top of his knee. "Sorry they're so noisy."

"I don't want it! There's no meat on that!"

Chizuru felt her mood lift and said, "Not at all. It's fun eating with everyone like this."

Sano looked sideways at her, tilting his head. "You finally smiled."

She turned her head to look at the russet-haired man curiously.

His golden eyes held a glimmer in them as he said, "Just keep smiling like that. We won't do anything to hurt you."

She smiled consciously this time, accepting his statement with a nod of her head, then blushing and turning her head away from him to hide it. _Perhaps I truly did have the wrong ideas about these Shinsengumi._

The sound of the door sliding open with a sharp crack jolted her from her silent musings. The fading sunlight outlined the silhouette of Inoue holding a slightly unfurled scroll in his hand with a grim expression on his face.

"I've just received word from Hijikata-san in Osaka. It appears that Sannan-san was severely injured in battle."

The entire room snapped to silent attention. All eyes landed on Inoue as Shinpachi leaned forward and asked quickly, "Will he recover?"

"According to the letter, the injury isn't terribly deep. However, it was his left arm that was injured. It will be hard for him to wield a sword now, but it isn't life threatening."

Chizuru mulled the information over quietly in her thoughts, looking down into her lap. _It's good that his life is not in danger… but I can tell that, to the Shinsengumi, wielding a sword _is _their life. I wonder how Sannan-san feels about it…_

"I must speak with Kondou-san now. Excuse me." Inoue bowed out of the room, sliding the door shut on a deafeningly silent room.

As his footsteps faded down the hall, Souji murmured with a cup of tea to his lips, "If push comes to shove, Sannan-san may have to take that medicine."

"Don't jinx him!" Shinpachi ran a frustrated hand through his short brown hair. "What are the higher-ups planning on doing with the Shinsengumi?"

_Higher-ups? _"Aren't Kondou-san, Hijikata-san, and Sannan-san the highest ranking officers?" Chizuru voiced her slight confusion.

"Ah, yeah, but -" Shinpachi started.

"No, no," Heisuke interrupted. "It's because of the way you write 'Shinsengumi,' see? Ours is written with -"

"HEISUKE!" Sano shouted as he leapt up suddenly from his seat, past Chizuru and Shinpachi to send Heisuke flying into the near wall with his fist.

"Heisuke!" Chizuru cried, an echo of Sano's fury replaced with concern for the boy curled against the wooden wall.

"Ahh… Damn it, that hurt…" Heisuke held a hand to the growing red mark on his face, looking past his fingers to glare at Sano.

"You overreacted, Sano!" Shinpachi intervened. "Heisuke, think before you talk!" He held Chizuru back with one hand, keeping her from standing up and rushing to Heisuke's side. Chizuru looked back to Souji and Saitou helplessly. Souji looked unusually somber and shook his head while Saitou sat stone-faced, unyielding to any reaction.

Sano slowly relaxed from his tense stance and said, "… Sorry." He held out a bandage-wrapped hand to help Heisuke up.

"Nah, I was at fault." Heisuke accepted the boost up, flinching as the movement of his jaw pulled at the mark on his face. "Jeez! Sano-san's quick to throw a punch!"

"Chizuru-chan," Shinpachi began, turning his sky-blue gaze onto her after dropping his arm, "you've heard all you can about this. I'm sure you want to know more about it, but please don't ask us for anything more."

"Alright…" She let it rest, still sensing the tension in the air from the simple mention of the unknown topic.

The Shinsengumi slowly relaxed and finished their dinners in a somewhat less amiable silence. As Shinpachi and Sano were nominated for washing dishes, Chizuru returned to her room after saying good night to everyone, escorted by Souji.

In the quiet surrounding them as the pair walked down the halls, Souji looked back over his shoulder at her and said, "And here I'd pegged you as a stubborn person."

"Eh?" Chizuru made a sound of confusion, looking up from the floor she'd been watching pass her by to meet Souji's eyes. "What do you mean?"

"Why did you let Shinpachi drop the subject so easily? I figured you'd just press him for information," he answered loftily, hands tucked into the sleeves of his hakama.

Chizuru recognized the reference. "I thought that if it didn't matter whether or not I knew what you were talking about, Sano-san wouldn't have tried so hard to keep Heisuke quiet…" She trailed off, the scene flashing before her eyes.

They'd stopped in front of the door to her room. Souji looked at her. "Good thinking," he commended her. "But what about when Gen-san said Sannan-san was injured? He said it wasn't life-threatening, but you didn't seem relieved at all. If I know anything about women, it's that they think that being alive is the most important thing to anyone." He scoffed with contempt.

Chizuru intertwined her fingers in front of her stomach. "That's not how it is for the Shinsengumi, though," she said with conviction. "Wielding a sword in battle _is _their - your - life. If you can't do that, then there's no reason to be alive, right?" Her own explanation became a timid question as she lost confidence in her answer.

Souji seemed shocked by her competency. "You're right. Since when have you been so observant? Last I checked, you couldn't even tell when a mob was outside your door."

Chizuru didn't know whether to be relieved that she was correct or offended that he didn't think that she _would _be correct. She decided to go with the former. _And I hardly think two people constitute a mob… Oh well._

"I could ask you the same thing," she replied, adding a humorous tone to her words. "I always thought you ignored me, just looking for a mistake that you'd be able to kill me over."

"Pfft!" He brought up a hand to his mouth to laugh behind. "As impossible as it seems, I do pay attention when I have to."

He stepped forward, leaning towards her face. Only several inches away, Chizuru could feel his warm breath ghost her chilled cheeks and count the deep green slivers of color in his bright eyes. A sharp poke on her forehead brought a cry of indignation from her lips as Souji continued to laugh.

"Good night, Chizuru-chan. See you tomorrow." He turned on his heel and began to slink down the hallway, back the way they'd come.

"Aren't I under surveillance?" Chizuru asked, rubbing at the point where he'd assaulted her forehead with her hand while calling after his back.

He stopped and turned his head to look back at her. "I trust you. For now, anyway. Just don't give me a reason to kill you, okay?" Smirking, he waved at her with the back of his hand as he continued down the hallway and out of sight.

She watched the darkness swallow his retreating figure and entered her room, shaking her head and sighing. She rubbed at the point that refused to stop burning.

_I'll never figure out how he thinks._

* * *

[A/N] - I'm barely finishing this on my deadline of "before I go on vacation for two weeks." If there are typos, I sincerely apologize and will berate myself/fix them later.

Some notes:

~ I know in the anime, Chizuru calls Heisuke 'Heisuke-kun,' but I felt that slapping that extra syllable after his name when he gets thrown across the room made it seem…really awkward. It just didn't flow with her concern for him.

~ Personally, I have this thing about using Japanese romaji in stories. Without errors, they're great to use sparingly. With errors and mass use, I find them annoying and tend to drop the story. Overall, I'm trying to keep it out of my story unless it's necessary.

~ Big blocks of text in a story are a pet peeve of mine. Sometimes I find myself reading the wrong line and having to reread a part again. I strive to keep that out of my story. Am I doing well? :X

* * *

Again, the reviews from when I posted the last chapter - that date being… oh crap, 6/17? It's almost been exactly two months…. ARRRGGHHH. I'M SO SORRY! Please, **look for your name here, as I tend to **_**get really in depth**_** with my review responses.**

xXxWolvesInTheNightxXx - Thank you very much for your praise! I try to be original and creative with my writing style, so I am very happy you enjoy it!

LilyFragrance - Fan-chan, thank you for reviewing with so many words~ It really makes my day to read them, even though I can't reply to them as quickly as I'd like. In a way, I understand that Chizuru's weakness gives the men around her a different kind of strength - the strength to protect the ones they care about. But really, I feel that the creators laid it on a little too thick with the helplessness. I did another long chapter! This one is a few hundred words longer than the last, and hopefully a little more interesting. Please, don't die from laughter! It is good for you, but there is actually such a case of "too much of a good thing." Yes, I love it when they find out she's a girl - I wondered if there could be some hilarious situation where some of them were clued in and some weren't, so that's what I came up with. Chizuru x Souji all the way! Sano and Saitou and Heisuke all kind of tie for a close second for me though. I'd love to have Souji tuck me in… I'd sleep well every night. I've read some review responses about Souji's age, and I've got a slight idea. I'll see if I can implement it sometime soon. Thank you for your mass encouragement, and I hope you enjoyed your new chapter!

Arcee-chan - Thank you for reading and reviewing! I do appreciate that you've subscribed, no matter when it happened. Yes, my life does tend to get a little hectic, considering my summer vacation is much shorter than I had hoped. Thank you for your further research on Souji's age - I'll give you credit whenever I get around to that scene. Maybe I'll turn it into a separate one-shot? Ooooh. Ideas. C:

Nyccha - Thank you for reading and reviewing (again)! I do realize that I'm basically transcribing the anime into this story, but that's how I've had it written for… about a year, now. Making an idea out of thin air… isn't something I've tried yet. But you've given me some very good inspiration! I actually have written out a more detailed venture on the Gion Festival, since that did interest me. I mean, so shiny, and there wasn't a lot that happened. More shiny, please? So yes. A new chapter for wonderful people like you! I miss nice people such as you as well. And yes, I'm still alive. c:

Litschi - Thank you for reading and reviewing again… times seven! Hahaha, I don't mind at all! I love my reviewers, and their spam. I do have ideas on their ages now, thanks to everyone's combined efforts, so perhaps I'll make a one-shot of a birthday scene or try to implement it into the story somewhere. I'm trying to deviate from the anime bit by bit, and Kazama will come in eventually. I'm not quite sure how large of a role he'll play in the romance aspect of it, but that's definitely food for thought. :0 Thank you for the encouragement and love~

pacchiri cherii - Thank you for reading and reviewing! There's actually a scene somewhere later that will prove to the guys just how well Chizuru can used that short sword of hers. Look forward to it!

Noir Kitty - Thanks, my anonymous reviewer! I'll try my best to keep Souji in his prime.

Okita Souji Fan xD - Thanks, another of my anonymous reviewers! Thanks for the praise, and the input on age. Many people answered my call for help, hm. Here's your (somewhat soonish - oh who am I kidding, LATE) update!

SighingWinter - Thank you for your review! Here's your update - I really pressed myself to get it done before I left home for limited internet. I hope to add those in myself later, but they haven't been written yet. Thank you very much for your encouragement!

yuuki56 - Thank you for your review! Your update with more Chizuru x Souji is here!

* * *

Thanks to LilyFragrance, Burstinatrix of the Void, Arcee-chan, Qwaser, SighingWinter, pricrema, and yuuki56 (x2) for your Story Alerts and Favorited Stories! I'll do my best for you all especially!

* * *

_**Special thanks to SighingWinter for wishing me a late happy birthday! I dedicate this chapter to you!**_

* * *

Thanks to EVERYONE reading/reviewing/favoriting/adding this story! You guys make it worth slogging through my procrastination and laziness for twelve straight hours (no joke, I've been working on this since I woke up at 9 a.m. till now at 9 p.m.)! I hope you've enjoyed this chapter as much as I have, hopefully more so, and I'll get back to you… after my vacation and most likely after school starts. Check my profile for interesting stuff to hopefully keep you tied over for maybe ten minutes while you scroll through it all~

ENJOY LIFE, EVERYONE!

Oh, and the more you review, the faster I update~ Hint, hint, poke, prod, threat, puppy face.


	9. Appetite

[A/N] - HEY! READ THIS! It's actually important! I need help! :D

Surprised to see me? I am too. For me, school starts in only three days and I've found that I have absolutely nothing to do, so here's the fruit of my boredom. Downloading music can only last me so long, even though I ended up getting over 1100 tracks on my mp3… Yay? I'm running out of space…

The more important part of this note is that I'm back from vacation! Jet-lagged, but otherwise okay.

_**But during that vacation, the idea for a new Hakuouki story was born!**_ **Check my profile for the summary and basic information on it!**

I've developed the _basic _storyline, characters, summary, title, conflicts, and character profiles. I'm rather proud of myself for thinking it up.

But the real question is: **do you think I should (A) post the first chapter of **_**Edge**_** (the title I've thought of) and alternate updating stories, or (B) stick with **_**Maikaze**_** only?**

_Tell me in a review of your opinion and I may just respond faster with a new chapter!_

School is starting soon, as I mentioned before, though, so I'm not quite sure when the next chapter will come out…

Hint, poke, prod, threat, puppy face. But I honestly do need opinions - I'm at a deadlock here. Please help the author! x3

* * *

A few days later, after awakening to the slowly warming morning atmosphere, Chizuru found herself sitting at breakfast between Shinpachi and Sano - that cushion seemed to have become her permanent seat, not that she minded terribly. Both warriors were good company.

Especially when Shinpachi and Heisuke had their usual scuffle over food.

"Let's dig in!" Heisuke crowed, unusually cheery so early in the morning. "Shinpat-san, thanks for sharing!" He snatched one of Shinpachi's fried red bean cakes with the tips of his chopsticks, the crunch of the outer layer of batter seeming to satisfy Heisuke to no end. He popped it into his mouth and chewed, grinning while Shinpachi raged.

"I was saving that for last!" Shinpachi yelled, leveling a glare at Heisuke with his sky-blue eyes. "You puny brat! It's payback time - give me that -" He made a swipe at one of Heisuke's side dishes, but the smaller warrior picked up the round dish and held it aloft and out of reach.

Heisuke's grin widened. "What do you think you're doing, Shinpat-san?"

"Cut the crap! You just stole my food!" Shinpachi emphasized his point by using his chopsticks to jab at the now-empty spot on his plate.

Heisuke rolled his eyes in response. "And so what? You always steal mine."

"You're such a - that was a long time ago, midget!"

"The hell it was! I'm talking about last night! You stole not just one but _every single_ side dish on my tray! I was starving when I went to bed…"

The entire time while this was going on, Chizuru observed Kondou, Saitou, Souji, and Sano eating their breakfasts in a much calmer silence, ignoring the daily occurrence that was Shinpachi's and Heisuke's argument. She also watched the pair's tussle with amusement along with Inoue, who was rather discontent with the disruption. Chizuru didn't feel a strong urge to stop them, but she did hide her mouth behind her hand as she giggled. Inoue seemed to come to a breaking point once the two started trying to stab each other with their chopsticks.

"Let it go, you two!" he exclaimed, holding a hand to his temple and rubbing at the point there. "You're getting on Yukimura-kun's nerves; the rest of us are accustomed to this, but for everyone's sake, please!"

Shinpachi and Heisuke immediately paused in their squabble to search over Chizuru curiously to see if his claim was true. Chizuru laughed nervously and dropped her hand from her mouth, taking the other and folding them together in her lap. _Inoue-san, you just had to get me involved…_

"Well, it's not that I'm bothered or anything, but to have such a fight over food…"

Souji spoke for her. "Of course you are. You're just good at hiding it."

She glared over at him slightly. He held his hands up in a 'not-guilty' gesture and smirked.

"Like I said," she continued, "if you don't want to bother me, maybe you should each keep your own hands on your own food."

"Maybe if Shinpachi wouldn't whine about how little food there is like a little kid, then we wouldn't have this problem every day," Heisuke said loftily.

Shinpachi's eye twitched. "And maybe if Heisuke acted like he's a foot taller and an adult, then I wouldn't have a problem with him and his-"

"Okay, stop right there." Chizuru spoke up, standing and moving to stand above the pair with hands on her hips. Truth be told, she was scared to death of the consequences her actions would definitely bring her, but she honestly was getting tired of their silly fights. _If food is the problem, then if there was more, then there wouldn't be one, right? Maybe I'll ask to make meals some days. If only to give myself and the others a bit of peace…_

Without leaving herself enough time to really think about her actions, Chizuru pulled her sheathed sword from her waist and used it to whack Shinpachi and Heisuke on the head. The hard wood connected with their skulls, an audible 'thunk' making the other men in the room wince.

"Chizuru-chan!" Shinpachi groaned at the same time Heisuke complained, "Chizuru!"

"What was that for?" Heisuke whimpered, clutching his head.

"Forget that, why did _I _get hit first_?_" Shinpachi questioned, rubbing at his head through his hair.

Chizuru sighed and sat back down next to Sano, who was desperately trying to hold in his laughter and failing miserably. Inside her mind, she felt like slumping down to the floor and praying that she'd live to see another day, but was also rather relieved she was safe for the moment.

The sound of footsteps coming down the hallway preceded the arrival of Hijikata into the breakfast room, stone-faced but somewhat curious of the doubly-injured Heisuke and Shinpachi.

"I just returned," he announced.

"Ah, welcome back, Toshi," Kondou said.

"Hey, Hijikata-san -" Souji began, but cut his words short as Sannan walked in behind Hijikata, his left arm in a white cloth sling. Chizuru couldn't help but follow the span of white fabric with her eyes as the brown-haired man followed Hijikata to sit on Kondou's other side, where Hijikata had set down the sword he had been holding for him.

"Welcome back, Sannan-san," Souji greeted him, leaning forward with his eyes flickering to his injured arm.

"Thank you. It's a pleasure to be back," Sannan replied, inclining his head.

"From what I heard, you did well out there," Kondou said, clapping a hand lightly onto Sannan's shoulder. "How is your arm?"

"You can see for yourself; I was just too careless at the time." He looked around the room to see everyone's eyes trained on him, varying degrees of worry present. "I'll be fine," he tried to appease them. "It's not as bad as it looks, so there's no need for concern. Now, if you'll excuse me…"

Sannan rose, picking up his sword with his good hand and moving to leave the room through the door he'd just entered.

"Sannan-san, what about dinner?" Heisuke called after him.

"I'll pass, thank you, Toudou-kun. I'm a little tired, so I'll rest in my quarters." Throwing a half-smile over his shoulder, Sannan closed the door behind him. Everyone listened to his retreating footsteps in silence until Souji broke the tense quiet.

"Hijikata-san, how bad is Sannan-san's injury, really?" His blunt question echoed their thoughts word for word.

"I can't say. He refuses to tell me everything that he actually feels from it, so I can't be sure." Hijikata caught a glance of Chizuru from the corner of his eye. His head whipped around to face her fully and he said sharply, "What are you doing here?"

Her head turned towards him confusedly, then fell to look into her lap guiltily. _I forgot… I'm only here on everyone else's charity. Hijikata-san was the one who didn't want me here in the first place…_

"Who gave you permission to leave your room and dine with us?" Hijikata continued to probe.

Chizuru stayed silent, head bowed as she put words to the meanings behind his question. _Not welcomed. Not wanted. Not accepted. Not allowed._

Seeing her discomfort, most of the others in the room verbally scrambled to defend her.

"Actually, Toshi, I…" Kondou trailed off.

"I invited her to eat with us a while ago," Heisuke cut in.

"We thought it was fine," Shinpachi added, looking at Sano.

"There wasn't any problem with it," Sano said, shrugging.

Hijikata looked at them all in turn, stunned.

"See, we all did, except for Saitou-kun," Souji said lightly, gesturing towards the violet-haired man in question with his hand. "But considering he didn't try too hard to stop us, that's as good as him inviting her too."

Saitou merely drank his tea.

"I can't believe you guys." Hijikata sighed disapprovingly. "If this sort of thing happens every time I leave headquarters for more than a day…"

"Oh, come on, Hijikata-san! It's only at mealtimes," Heisuke argued on Chizuru's behalf. "She promised she wouldn't run away, and she's kept that promise for two weeks already."

"Barely two weeks," the violet-eyed commander retorted, frowning.

"If you're so worried, why don't you watch her like you're supposed to, Hijikata-san?" Souji chipped in.

Hijikata's violet eyes narrowed at the emerald-eyed warrior.

Souji smirked. "At any rate, the odds are against you. You might as well officially let her now."

"Toshi, what do you say?" Kondou asked. "Why don't you give her permission? It can't hurt."

"Kondou-san, if you're too lenient, the men will start to question your authority. That's what I'm trying to prevent right now," Hijikata reprimanded.

"Ah…" Feeling like a scolded child, Kondou laughed slightly.

"Erm…" Chizuru caught everyone's attention with a quiet noise shot through with embarrassment and nervousness. She twisted her fingers together and refused to look anyone in the eye. "I understand that I'm a bother by eating here, and I don't mind eating in my room if it won't cause any more disturbances between you all…"

A silent moment confirmed her fears and she sighed inside her mind, using her legs to push herself off the cushion, despite the complaints of Shinpachi and Sano to either side of her. _I should have known this would happen. Just because they seemed nice on the surface, I… I'm really naïve, aren't I…?_

"… Mealtimes only."

The fleeting phrase graced Chizuru's ears and she nearly gave herself whiplash trying to catch Hijikata's eyes to confirm whether or not she'd actually heard what she thought she had. He averted her eyes, but the small, resigned smile on his lips confirmed it for her as he continued on, almost as if he hadn't said anything.

"I should get something to eat too, then."

"Ah, I'll go prepare it for you," Inoue said, his own smile apparent on his face while rising and leaving the room.

Chizuru couldn't help but keep staring at Hijikata in shock until Heisuke slung his arm around her shoulders. She couldn't recall when he'd come up behind her, but his arm was a comforting weight as she felt herself being pulled to his side.

"Not bad! Chizuru, you finally get to eat with everyone!" Heisuke exclaimed cheerily, seeming to forget about the bump on his head caused by the person he was trying to swing around in a circle with one arm.

Chizuru resisted his momentum slightly, trying to stay upright as her own smile dawned on her lips. She nodded her agreement. "Seems like it."

Sano looked at her from his seat and smiled after Heisuke finally let go of Chizuru to let her sit down, though she was a bit dizzier than before. Whether it was euphoria or Heisuke's playful enthusiasm, she didn't know.

"Like I always say, food tastes better with a bigger crowd!" Shinpachi crowed, snitching a bit of Heisuke's food yet again. In high spirits, Heisuke seemed a bit resigned and didn't complain as much - not to say that he kept quiet.

"Well, I think you just earned yourself a ticket to being their babysitter every time we eat, Chizuru," Souji noted, gesturing to Shinpachi and Heisuke.

Sano clapped a hand on her shoulder. "Eh, that's fine. That means I don't have to do it all the time anymore."

"… You don't at all." Saitou's quiet statement made the room break out into laughter. Even Hijikata allowed himself a wider, more pronounced smile.

No, Chizuru didn't know what the warm feeling she was getting was as she laughed right along with everyone else.

Regardless, it felt nice.

* * *

As the days passed, Chizuru found that Heisuke's statement was slightly incorrect.

* * *

"'_Not bad! Chizuru, you finally get to eat with everyone!' Heisuke exclaimed cheerily, seeming to forget about the bump on his head caused by the person he was trying to __swing around in a circle with one arm."_

* * *

Over the course of several days since Heisuke had made that statement, she had observed that Sannan had become very quiet and distant, more so than he normally was, if Sano's and Souji's comments were anything to go by. He continued to eat day after day in his room, occasionally coming out to watch the other unit captains train the troops in his place. Whenever she happened to look outside her bedroom window at night, she would find him there, practicing various _kata _alone in the courtyard.

There was one particular night where she had watched him struggle to finish a certain _kata_ and actually had his sword slip from his single good hand. He didn't stoop to pick it up and try again; instead, he simply stood there, watching the grass sway around the weapon laying there, his back to her worried gaze. She remembered thinking, _He seems so… frustrated with himself._

One morning, a few weeks after Hijikata's and Sannan's return, Chizuru found her feet leading her to where Heisuke had pointed out the kitchen a couple days before. She was slightly worried about being caught by Hijikata, of course.

But she was also bored.

Souji and Saito were cooking the morning meal when she arrived. Both men had the sleeves of their kimonos tied back by a crossed white ribbon. Souji chopped various vegetables on a wooden cutting board not a few feet away from Saitou, who was dutifully stirring a hearty-smelling stew in a pot with a spoon. Chizuru watched the scene for a moment before making herself known carefully, lest she make someone injure themselves. _I'm sure Saitou-san would be fine, but Souji's the one with a knife in his hands._

"Good morning," she greeted them quietly, cheerily, taking a step into the rather small cooking area.

"Morning, Chizuru-chan." Souji replied over his shoulder, only turning his head slightly so he could keep an eye on the knife chopping near his fingers.

Saitou continued to stir the stew. The only indication that he'd heard her was the slight tilting of his head in her direction.

"Do you both always prepare the meals?" Chizuru wondered out loud, eyeing the cooking meals curiously.

"Not always." Souji straightened from his bent stance over the cutting board and turned to look at her fully, knife safely on the cutting board. He rested a hand on his hip and held the other in the air as if carrying a tray. "I'm sure I wouldn't be alive right now if they made me cook all of the meals. Too boring."

"Everyone takes shifts cooking," Saitou elaborated on Souji's seemingly suicidal comment, eyes still trained on the stew.

"Ah, I see…" Chizuru took a moment to look around the room then leveled her gaze at Souji shyly. "Do you think I'd be able to cook meals for a day or two?"

"Depends on how well you make it," Souji told her, crossing his arms and leaning forward, a smirk already on his face. "Will we die after day one or day two?"

"Hey!" Chizuru pouted, put-out.

Before she could do something vaguely violent in response, Heisuke appeared beside her, tapping her shoulder and waving his hand next to her face. "Hey, Chizuru!" He looked over to Souji and said to him dejectedly, "Sannan-san wants to eat in his room again today."

"That so?" Souji mused, preparing the utensils on the serving trays. "I don't think it counts as 'eating,' anyway. He barely touches his food and I end up giving it to Shinpachi or Sano."

"Why not me?" Heisuke grumbled.

"But… surely he must know he can't recover if he doesn't eat," Chizuru protested. "Is it possible -"

"You may have permission to dine with us, but I do not recall giving you permission to wander about as you wish."

Hijikata appeared in the door frame behind Chizuru, steely gaze aimed at her. Chizuru spun around on her heel and moved to bow forward slightly.

"Ah, g-good morning!" Her greeting was slightly less elegant than she had hoped. "I wanted to see if I could be of any help, so…"

"You don't need to help us," he replied shortly, turning to continue walking down the hall.

"Then… may I please prepare Sannan-san's meal?" Chizuru asked hesitantly.

He glanced at her from the corner of his eyes, evidently suspecting her of an ulterior motive. To tell the truth, she wasn't sure whether or not she actually had one. "You?"

She nodded in affirmation. "I've… been worried about him lately, and I wanted to see if I could help him…"

"Let her do it," Souji called from behind Chizuru. "It's not like he was eating for any of us in the first place, anyway. It can't hurt to let her give it a shot. Well, unless he hurts her, but I doubt he'd do that."

Chizuru could see him shrugging carelessly without even turning to look at him and suppressed the urge to find something to throw at him.

"He has a point," Heisuke agreed. "Sannan-san's going to fall into his own grave at this rate."

"…You don't need to help us." Hijikata continued his route down the hall, disappearing around the corner.

"Erm…" Chizuru voiced her confusion.

"That's Hijikata-san's way of telling you 'do what you want.' He didn't say no and he didn't tell you what to do, so you're cleared," Souji explained, smiling slightly.

"Okay then!" Chizuru allowed herself a smile, then asked, "Souji, can I borrow your cooking ribbon?"

Souji complied, pulling an end of the knot on his back and letting the sleeves of his kimono drop. He handed the ribbon to her, amusedly watching her tie back her own sleeves. Saitou spread the coals of the cooking fire under the stew and paused, watching her as well.

She washed her hands in the small basin in the corner before finding the pot where rice was steaming away in a pile of white grains. Taking the salt nearby, she coated her palms in a light crust of the translucent crystals and proceeded to take handfuls of rice and roll them into balls.

"What do you have for fillings?" Chizuru questioned, finishing her first round rice ball and moving on to make a second.

"Let me see." Souji cracked open a door of the cabinet next to the counter where the trays were laid out, peering into it. "I see salted salmon… and _okaka_. Did Shinpachi eat all of my…" A hand disappeared into the cabinet and rummaged around. "Oh, no, he didn't; we also have _umeboshi_. Which one do you want?"

Chizuru looked over to Heisuke. "Which do you think is best?"

He shrugged in response. "I like salmon the best, but I think Sannan-san likes _okaka_."

She looked over to Saitou, who tilted his head a bit. _No opinion, I suppose_. "Can I get them all then?"

Souji set down three different ceramic jars next to her, each with the lid off so she could see what was inside. By that point, she had finished making six round rice balls. She picked up three, one after the other, and systematically filled them with _okaka_, rolling the rice around the filling until they became triangular in shape. She filled one of the remaining three with an _umeboshi_, and one more with salmon. The last one she left plain with a bit more salt than the others. The three _okaka_-filled rice balls went on a plate, which was placed onto an awaiting tray.

She moved over to the stew that Saitou had been watching over, which turned out to be miso soup. She served up a bowl with tofu more thinly sliced in the broth and added some thick leaves of seaweed. A quick cup of green tea poured from the large teapot nearby and placed onto the tray completed the ensemble. Souji and Heisuke eyed the tray enviously while Saitou looked at it with mild interest.

Heisuke let out a whistle of admiration. "Chizuru, you're fast! It's been a long time since I've seen homemade _onigiri_. But I don't think Sannan-san will eat six of them though, considering he's eaten next to nothing these past few days." He pointed at the remaining three _onigiri _left on a plate near the rice pot.

"Erm… those are actually for all of you," she admitted, blushing slightly and clasping her hands behind her back.

"Oh? You don't say," Souji commented, surprised.

She nodded, holding the plate up to the three standing near the doorway. "_Umeboshi_ for Souji, salmon for Heisuke. I made a plain one for you, Saitou-san, since you didn't say what you preferred."

Apparently unable to resist, all three men took one in hand, Saitou the last to reach out and claim one for himself.

"Thanks for the food!"

Each of the men took a bite. Souji uncovered salmon in the middle of his, while Heisuke found an _umeboshi _nestled in his. Only Saitou had picked his designated _onigiri_, the barest trace of a smirk apparent on his face.

Souji and Heisuke traded a glance, then their _onigiri_, continuing to eat.

Chewing for a moment, Souji wondered aloud, "If Hijikata-san had stuck around, would you have made one for him too?"

Feeling a bit put-out towards the violet-eyed vice-commander, Chizuru half-smiled. "Maybe not."

That answer seemed to satisfy Souji as he smirked while finishing the last few bites of his _onigiri_.

Heisuke spoke up, "You know, Hijikata-san didn't say that you _couldn't _cook dinner for us every now and then." His voice was slightly muffled by the _onigiri _still held up to his mouth.

"You should consider being our chef, Chizuru-chan," Souji interjected. "At least for a little while."

"I would like to," she said, smiling. "I could make tonight's dinner, if you'd like."

"And maybe the meal after that, and the meal after that…" Heisuke seemed to be seriously contemplating the possibility.

Chizuru laughed, untying the ribbon from her sleeves and giving it back to Souji. She watched Saitou finish his own _onigiri_ and asked, "Do you like it, Saitou-san?"

He glanced at her, his deep indigo eyes flickering towards her. He nodded once. "It's good."

"That's great!" Genuinely happy, Chizuru clapped her hands together once in front of her. "Is there anything specific I should make for dinner?"

"Surprise us." Souji chuckled, stowing the cooking ribbon in the cabinet with the remaining fillings.

She nodded and picked up the tray with Sannan's meal on it. "I'm going to bring Sannan-san his meal now, or it'll get cold."

"Good luck," Souji and Heisuke said simultaneously.

"…Thanks. Oh, and please don't tell anyone else I'm making dinner. I'll make it a surprise." Chizuru smiled back at them, then left to walk a short distance through the winding hallways to arrive in front of Sannan's room.

Taking a calming breath, she called out, "Sannan-san, I've brought breakfast."

"Thank you," came the reply.

She let herself in. The room was slightly dimmer than the rest of the headquarters, with only one window open to allow in the streaming sunlight from outside. Bookshelves covered the majority of the walls, with the exception of a table covered with what seemed to be delicate glass equipment. That table was littered with open, bookmarked, and neatly stacked books, as well as a stack of blank paper that rustled slightly with the breeze coming in through the window. Sannan-san sat there with his back to her while she placed the tray a step behind him, allowing herself to sit behind the tray.

"Please, help yourself," she said quietly. _I hope this won't be as difficult as Heisuke's made it out to be…_

"This is unusual," Sannan remarked after a moment, turning slightly in his place to look at her over his shoulder. "I never expected you to bring my food, Yukimura-kun." His eyes narrowed as he took in her seated form.

"Ah… Erm, I cut the ingredients in the miso soup fairly small, so you wouldn't have to use your chopsticks, and -"

"Did you do this out of pity?"

Startled, Chizuru flinched back at his harsh tone.

"Did you make an extra effort now so you wouldn't have to later, after I made a mess while tearing at the food because I couldn't use my left hand?" Sannan rephrased, growing ire apparent with the sharp words he threw at her.

"No! I wanted -"

"I don't need your sympathy." He seemed to glare at her over his shoulder. "Who told you to do this? Hijikata-kun? Kondou-kun? Perhaps Toudou-kun?"

"…I asked to do it," Chizuru answered, stung and hurt. _Is it really such a terrible thing to care for, or be cared for by someone else?_

"You?" The incredulity in his tone was obvious.

"Yes. I heard you weren't eating and I thought that you wouldn't heal well if you didn't eat, so I…" _Took it upon myself to interfere in things that really aren't my business. That's most likely what he thinks I'm doing now…_

"I see."

She looked up from her hands, neatly folded in her lap to see that Sannan had turned away from her to look out the window once more.

"You make it sound as if you did it for me, but you were just looking for a way to fit in here. Neither a soldier nor a prisoner, what purpose do you have?"

As he spoke the words, Chizuru knew he was right. _I'm only here because they think they need to take care of me until Father is found. I'm not really… of practical use here. _She shook her head mentally. _No. If there's something I can do for them, then I'll do it. That's all._

"Even if that's true, I still hope you'll eat something. Surely you've noticed that everyone is worried about you!" Chizuru tried to make her voice strong.

Sannan remained silent. Dejected, she left after excusing herself, closing the door behind her. She didn't hear anyone's footsteps behind her as she returned to the meal room. Her face must have revealed everything, since those around her tried to cheer her up not long after she sat down in her customary place between Sano and Shinpachi.

"Chizuru, it's okay," Heisuke said. "I'll try and bring his lunch to him. Maybe you've softened him up a bit."

"Yeah, cheer up!" Shinpachi added. "It's not your fault Sannan-san is the only one that isn't affected by your charm."

"If your cooking won't wake him up, I don't know what will," Souji said, shrugging.

"You even got Hijikata-san to loosen up. That just means Sannan-san is being stubborn," Sano told her, patting her on the head.

"Don't worry too much," Saitou commented.

She gave everyone a small smile. "Thank you."

They were quiet for a moment, looking at the food that had been set in front of them before her arrival.

"…Sannan-kun?" Kondou stated the name as a question.

All heads turned to watch the shoji door slide open. Chizuru's head snapped up to see Sannan standing in the doorway, carrying the tray of food Chizuru had made for him in his good hand. Everyone's eyes followed him as he walked around the edges of the room to sit at Kondou's right side.

After placing the tray in front of him, Sannan said, "Thank you for the food," and picked up one of the _onigiri_ on his plate, taking a bite.

He had taken his third bite by the time Chizuru had recovered from her surprise enough to say, "Sannan-san…?"

"Supposedly, food tastes better when you're with a big crowd," he stated, looking at his food with a small smile on his face.

A wide smile formed on Chizuru's face in response.

"I agree wholeheartedly," Kondou said sincerely.

"Yeah, Chizuru-chan!" Shinpachi laughed, clapping her on the back and startling her slightly.

Sano messed with her hair, ruffling it up. "Good job, Chizuru-chan!"

"I bet you thought she couldn't do it," Souji said to Hijikata, a sly smile on his face.

Hijikata sighed, resigned.

"Chizuru's food is magic!" Heisuke exclaimed, laughing.

Sannan finished his first onigiri, then turned slightly to give Chizuru an apologetic smile. Her own smile widened into a grin and she said, "I'm glad you're feeling better now, Sannan-san!"

Everyone seemed in higher spirits after that. For once, Heisuke didn't try to steal Shinpachi's food, which made the older man look at him with confusion and suspicion. Chizuru heard him mention something about being full and laughed to herself. Saitou ate as if nothing happened, and Sano and Souji ate with a smirk on their face.

"So, between you all, who is going to make lunch and dinner?" Hijikata asked.

"Heisuke and I can take dinner," Souji said quickly, discreetly winking at Chizuru across the room.

"Are you sure, Souji? You just made breakfast," Sano commented.

"It's fine." Souji waved him off.

"I guess Sano and I can make lunch then," Shinpachi said.

"If that's it, then it's time for your rounds. Saitou-kun, Sano-kun, it's your shift," Kondou informed them. The aforementioned men stood and exited through the door, Sano pausing to grin at Chizuru and give her a "See you later," before following Saitou's steps.

Chizuru smiled at them as they left, then stood herself. "I'd like to rest in my room for a bit then."

"Make sure you wake up for dinner, at least," Heisuke told her, smirking.

"Don't worry," she replied, pausing to touch the door frame with her fingertips. "I will!"

Returning to her room, she actually did end up falling asleep in her futon without meaning to. Her last conscious thought echoed through her mind before she succumbed to the pull of sleep.

_Well, that could have been much worse._

* * *

[A/N] - Wow. Five thousand words… I'm sleepy.

**_Please, make sure to vote in your reviews! Your opinions will help me very much! In case you don't know what the choices are, reread the [A/N] at the top! The more voting reviews I get, the faster I'll come back with an update~_**

Some notes that may help you understand the chapter better -

~ I know Sannan actually has two swords, but to have him pick up both with only one hand would be really awkward. The only Shinsengumi member I'm aware of that only has one sword is Sano, since he's also a spearman. I forgot if Yamazaki has one or two - someone enlighten me? x3

~ _Okaka_ is dried, preserved tuna shaved into thin strips and soaked in soy sauce. Onigiri is well known for having salty flavorings and fillings.

~ _Umeboshi _are dried plums. Those little red ones you sometimes see on the backs of onigiri? Look like little buttons? Man, those are _salty_. Might as well put a salt lick in the middle instead.

~ If you noticed, I changed around how Chizuru addresses some people. That's because I'm assuming that she'd use the names that were used to introduce them to her, or that she may have heard in passing. Since I'm trying to make her a little less meek, she'll end up using both first and last names depending on the person.

* * *

And the review responses are…

Princess-of-thieves6 - Thank you for reading and reviewing! I'm glad to have made someone's day with my mediocre story~ I understand that you thought it would have been a while, but look at me updating within two weeks of the last chapter. That's almost unheard of~ Teehee.

xXxWolvesInTheNightxXx - Thank you for yet another one of your encouraging reviews! Despite their lack of length, they really help me get these chapters out. x3 I try my best to make Chizuru a bit stronger, but not perfect. I hope I'm doing well. :D

pacchiri cherii - Thank you for remaining an ever-faithful reviewer! I think that chapter should either be the next one or the one after. It depends on where I decide to divide my chapters. This one was actually supposed to be two chapters, but I decided to combine them, resulting in this monstrosity. :x I completely agree - Chizuru had the power, but never used it to the Shinsengumi's advantage once when they really needed it (several times). I updated sooner this time! Schools coming up, though, meaning fewer updates. :C

Rissa-RaNee - Thank you for reading and reviewing! I'm glad to have lured a new reader to my story! :D I'm glad you think it's good; personally, I think it's a mess sometimes. It's been continued! And I apologize again for our mishap. It was completely my fault. D:

LilyFragrance - I don't mind your late review; no matter when I get them, yours always make me feel warm and fuzzy. ^u^ Oh no! I read your blog about that, and I really hope that things turn out well for you - teaching through language blocks always makes things more difficult! I'm very happy that you took your precious free time and used it to review my story like you always do. I hope this doesn't become a dragging month. x3 Yes, I read about the game storylines prior to writing this story, and they were all cute. The anime meshed them together well, but the endings… ugh. I hope I keep making more of your favorite chapters! This one might have been a bit more entertaining, I hope (hope comes up a lot, huh… it's the best I've got :U ). Romantic scenes are kind of my forte, I should think. I have a good imagination for fluffy scenes. I've yet to write that scene, and I'm really not sure when I'll get to it, but hopefully (HOPE AGAIN) soon!  
I won't! It'll take me longer with school starting, but I WANT (not hope! though I do that at the same time) to keep writing. I'm so touched that you think it's the best Chizuru x Okita fanfic in the archive! I personally it's a bit of a train wreck at points, but… YAY! _The Snowflake Capital _is actually the name of the first episode. I decided to implement it on a whim. I have a lot of those, whims. Chizuru is a bit awkward around others, since she's scared of not being accepted. I think that trait showed up in this chapter a lot. I didn't consciously realize I was making Souji sexist; I was only aware that I was making him stereotype girls. But now I understand. Shinpachi would make it seem that way, but unfortunately, he ate the fish tail. :C I'm trying to give Souji a "lazy attentiveness." I guess it's working? x3 And I'm just playing up his "I'll kill you" jokes from the first few episodes. Tell me if it gets overbearing, please!  
Oh, and the bit about Sano punching Heisuke... I've always interpreted it as Heisuke trying to tell Chizuru about the meaning of the name "Shinsengumi" as it pertains to the Rasetsu. Because if I recall correctly, in the anime, it was translated as "Newly recruited corps," but I want to believe that he was going to explain it as "Newly created corps," which would have led to very awkward questions about government secrets that Chizuru - or any outsider - wasn't supposed to know. But maybe I'm just spinning empty wheels. xwx  
Yay for new favorite chapters! I still WANT to make more of your favorites! Thank you so much! :D

* * *

Thanks to magiclover90, Rissa-RaNee (x2), and honeybreath for your Story Alerts and Author Alerts!

* * *

I dedicate this chapter to LilyFragrance, who took time out of her busy, busy life to write me an epically long review that made me super-happy! I hope things go well for you in this coming month!

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And remember to vote!


	10. Cooking

[A/N] - _**Congratulations to Maikaze for breaking 5,000 hits and gaining over 50 reviews! And then some. It went over 6,000 and 60 by the time I finished typing this. I would have never EVER imagined this story to be so popular. Thank you everyone! Hugs for all! ;w;**_

_**Review responses are at the bottom, but you might have to dig a bit for your name. Read the [A/N] above them please!**_

_**Oh, and this one too. Heehee.**_

* * *

School has started yet again for me, and let me tell you, it's as boring as I remembered it to be. As such, I needed a break from writing my essay for English and doing my homework, so I turned to this as a reprieve.

Now, regarding what I mentioned last chapter about my new story, _Edge_. If you forgot, the options for the vote were:

A - To update a chapter of _Edge _and alternate stories

B - To only update Maikaze

**As it turned out: -epic drumroll-**

**A has seven (7) votes.**

**B has three (3) votes.**

… It looks like people really want _Edge_. Many thanks to my reviewers who reviewed and voted at the same time like I asked them to! You are all super-special-AWESOME!

In the same breath, I can say that it won't always be one story, then the other, then back, then the other, ect. _**Edge **_**does NOT have a rough draft like **_**Maikaze **_**does so it may not come out very often**, or easily on my part. But you have asked, and you shall receive (eventually)!

Before I let you get onto the story, two more notes.

One: please review! The fact that I have 5,000(+) hits and yet only 66 reviews makes me a bit curious - all you'd have to do is press the "Review this chapter" button and leave a word or two. On the other side of the link, there are cookies! And I'll respond in the next chapter! I'm an interactive author, so don't be shy~

Two: ever heard of Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro? Those neet-o people that have me on Author Alert would have seen that last month, a couple days after I updated Maikaze, I posted the first chapter of _Can't Give the Same Gift Twice_, a story I made in celebration of my own and one of my friend's birthday. If you know of this anime/manga, give it a try! If not, I highly recommend the anime/manga for those who aren't extremely sensitive to blood, as it is a supernatural, murder-mystery kind of anime/manga.

… Eesh, I wonder if people are going to read this A/N. Even I think it's a bit too long. Oh well.

Oh, and always check my profile to see if I've updated the status of a story! Okay, I'm REALLY done now.

* * *

_It was dark. Darker than she could have ever imagined._

"_Where am I?" Chizuru cried out. "Where is everyone?" She couldn't see anything. She could feel herself moving, but lacked the vision to see what was really happening._

_It was cold. Colder than she had ever experienced._

_The white vapor that rose from her exhalations floated stark white in contrast to her environment before rising and disappearing into the interminable dark around her. She curled in on herself, closing her eyes to the darkness and trying to cling to her own body's warmth as it escaped through the invisible floor below her. She found no difference between the dark outside her body and the blackness from her closed eyelids, leaving her little comfort._

_It was empty. There was no one there._

_She felt so alone._

"_Anybody…"_

"_Chizuru."_

_A quiet murmur of her name struck through her ears with sudden clarity. Looking up, she saw the faintest outline of a person walking towards her. The person had no discernable features due to the surrounding darkness other than their height, seeming to be taller than her. Sitting with her legs underneath her, she stretched out a hand to the unknown person, a silent plea for help. Somehow, she could see the person doing the same towards her, but with their hand being an extension of assistance._

_She hadn't realized that the person's eyes had been closed until they'd actually opened._

_The obscure eyelids lifted, revealing glittering eyes of the deepest forest green._

* * *

Chizuru snapped to consciousness, waking up with a started cry. The first object her eyes alighted on made her think that she was still asleep. Souji sat next to her, legs crossed with one arm propping up his head. His tilted eyes were exactly the same shade of forest green she'd seen in her dream, leaving her a little shaken. _Why was I dreaming about Souji? And such a frightening environment too… I didn't know I could scare myself with my own dreams so well._

"Evening, Chizuru-chan." Even his voice had been perfectly represented in her dream. "You must have slept badly again this time - you don't have any tatami marks on your face." A smirk completed his statement and creased his eyes in the corners, narrowing them slightly.

Chizuru rubbed her eyes, trying to wipe the dream away from her memory while waking herself up a bit more. "Well, maybe that's because someone gave me a futon this time instead of throwing me on the floor to freeze."

Souji laughed outright at this, grinning. "Hey, blame Hijikata-san for that. I was only following orders. Come on, it's time for dinner - and by that, I mean it's time for _you_ to make dinner. Heisuke's already waiting for us in the kitchen." He held out a hand to her, his eyes opening from the laughter that had caused them to inadvertently close. Struck again by the similarity of reality to her dream, she took his hand and allowed herself to be pulled up from the warm, red blanket.

She took a moment to straighten out the blanket on the futon before following Souji out of the room. The crescent moon hung low in the sky, shedding soft moonlight over the newly thawed grass and bushes in the courtyard outside the room. The stone lanterns scattered throughout the corners of the courtyard were illuminated by the candles burning lazily inside. Moths skirted around the flame, casting tiny shadows onto the stone.

_I wonder if anything has ever caught fire because of those lamps, _Chizuru wondered idly as the two made their way to the kitchen.

Chizuru and Souji found Heisuke perched on top of the wooden cooking counter, sitting back with his weight on his hands.

He grinned at their arrival and greeted, "Evening, Chizuru. It's a good thing you didn't sleep in, or we'd be going hungry."

Chizuru crossed her arms. "I'm sure you'd both perfectly capable of cooking dinner if I had happened to choose otherwise."

"But everything would taste bad in comparison to your cooking by this point," Souji commented.

"Yeah, now I can definitely say that Shinpat-san's cooking is terrible," Heisuke added.

"Flattery won't get you a bigger meal."

"Aw…" The dual sound of disappointment almost made Chizuru change her mind, but she held her ground.

"So what's for dinner anyway?" Heisuke inquired.

"Ah, well, it's supposed to be a surprise, so you two can find something else to do with your time until I'm finished," she explained. "Just make sure no one else sees you."

Souji's eyes shifted to the side. "Bossy little girl."

Chizuru bristled a little. A slight hint of annoyance prompted her to draw his attention to the short sword at her waist by grasping the hilt tightly with her right hand. Eyes narrowing slightly, she said sweetly, "Sorry, I didn't catch that. Say again?"

Souji's seemingly perpetual smirk widened and he held his hands up in surrender. Chizuru released her sword with a small smile on her face. Little had Souji known that she herself knew that she would have never had the gall to draw a sword against him.

"I got it, I got it. We're gone. Come on, Heisuke. Let's go before I give her a chance to do that to you." Souji walked out, beckoning to Heisuke with his hand.

The shorter warrior quickly followed after exclaiming, "That was awesome, Chizuru! Do it again sometime!"

He had just rounded the corner when a sharp _thwack_ reached Chizuru's ears, followed by a pitiful, "Ow…"

Chizuru couldn't help but laugh. She let the sounds of merriment out, a smile obvious on her face. She hummed nonsensically while she busied herself rifling through the cabinets to see if the kitchen had the ingredients she needed.

Setting the equivalent of a large wash basin on the cooking fire, she filled the pot with water and added salt, soy sauce, and a tiny bit of sugar. A pan with a generous amount of sesame oil was set nearby. She let both sit and heat up while she prepared another part of the meal.

She took a wooden bowl large enough for her to sit in and carefully measured a massive amount of wheat flour, pouring water and salt over the pile once she'd made a small mountain of flour. She began kneading the water into the flour, quickly and efficiently until the dough smoothed out. With no need to allow the dough to set, she sprinkled flour onto the counter and dumped the rather sizeable ball of dough onto it, using a rolling pin to flatten it. More flour fell on top of the dough. Chizuru rolled the sheet of dough into a log and quickly sliced thick noodles off of the end.

Not long after she began, the log had become a pile of udon noodles.

The broth she'd started for the noodles had finished boiling. She found a bottle of _nihonshu_ in the back of the cupboard and added a few drops to the broth. Somehow, she made all of the udon noodles fit into the pot of broth without it spilling over. She stirred slowly and spread the wood underneath the pot to lower the flames.

_So I have the main dish finished…_

Searching around, she found some potatoes, sweet potatoes, and mushrooms. She proceeded to chop them up and dump them into the udon broth to boil and absorb the flavor. At the same time, she quickly mixed together some flour, eggs, and water for some makeshift tempura batter. After dipping a different set of vegetables and mushrooms in the batter, she dropped them in the pan, yelping when a spot of hot oil landed on her hand. Rubbing at the red mark on her skin, she glared lightly at the sizzling pan.

"Okay in there, Chizuru?"

Chizuru flicked her eyes to the doorway in surprise when Souji's voice sounded. "Yes, I'm fine. Just a bit of hot oil is all."

"Then that's fine. I wouldn't want you to be on the eating tray tonight anyway, so be careful." She could hear the evident laughter in his voice.

"Hmpf."

Chizuru returned her full attention to the tempura and took out the finished batch along with the crunchy bits of batter on the side of the pan. Those bits went into the udon broth to add flavor. The last addition to the main meal was a_ daikon_, far longer and wider than Chizuru's forearm. She grated it down into a large pile and added vinegar and soy sauce, allowing the white vegetable to turn a light tan.

_Those are the main dishes… What about desert? Do they normally have desert?_ Chizuru pouted in slight thought. _… Well, if they don't, it might compromise their physical stature if they do. I suppose I'll just make tea then._

She found a fairly large teapot and set it onto the cooking fire after filling it with water. She strained to set it down as gently as she could manage with it trying to bring down her arm. After rummaging around in the cooking cupboard, she found a ceramic pot filled with _sencha _leaves and set it on the counter.

"Souji? Are you still there?" Chizuru called towards the open door.

"I wonder."

"Oh, just get in here and help me, please. Where's Heisuke?"

"Right here, Chizuru." Heisuke appeared in the doorway, Souji shadowing him.

Both sets of verdantly shaded eyes widened as they took in the spread of food before them. Heisuke's jaw dropped down as he eyed the dishes with glee. Souji raised an eyebrow and clapped appreciatively.

"Not bad, Chizuru. Now all that's left to see is if we're going to die right after we eat or after it sets in for a day or two."

Chizuru huffed while Heisuke exclaimed, "I'll die happy then! Chizuru, this is awesome! I never knew food could smell this good!"

She smiled to herself at his exuberance towards something as simple as food. _But then again, since they're warriors, I suppose they don't get very elaborate meals._ "I wanted to ask you both to set up the trays with the food since I'm not sure how well I'd be able to divide up the portions. Can I trust you both to give an _equal _amount to everyone?" Chizuru stressed the condition for their assistance.

"Don't worry, Chizuru. You can count on us," Souji assured her, though the smirk on his face made her consider rethinking her decision. "We'll make sure everyone dies at the same time."

"Yeah, we'll be good," Heisuke added, seeming to disregard Souji's last statement. "With all this food you cooked, I might not even have to steal from Shinpat-san's tray tonight."

"Okay… Anyway, if you can set up the bowls and plates for the food, I'll steep the tea and serve the cups."

"Okay~"

Rattling, clattering, rustling, and cursing soon ensued. Trying to balance a column of plates in one hand and a stack of bowls in the other, Souji tried to maneuver around Heisuke without tripping. The shorter warrior made it more difficult for him, moving back and forth between the different foods while filling up the settings Souji had already placed on the trays.

"Heisuke, move out of the way," Souji complained, his arms out to either side of him with the dishes stacked precariously on top of one another while he attempted to toe Heisuke in the ribs to get him to move.

"Hey, watch out - if this soup spills, who do you think is going to have to clean up?" Heisuke was practicing his own balancing act, three bowls filled with sloshing soup sitting on his arms while he made his way back to the counter with the trays atop it.

Chizuru moved quietly around them, bringing the empty teacups to the large tea pot on the cooking fire and filling them with boiling water. With the repetitive movements of carrying, filling, and carrying back, she gained more confidence in her steady hands and quickened her step. She went back and forth twice more, until she had only one cup left to fill.

However, with that last cup filled, she caught the edge of her sleeve on the counter and found herself jerked back while she tried to move forward. A startled cry escaped her lips when she found her foot slipping, sending her plummeting to the floor with the cup of scalding water falling out of her hands. Heisuke's startled exclamation echoed in her ears after the tinkle of a breaking cup rang through the small kitchen. Bracing for the imminent impact, she closed her eyes, bringing up her arms and attempting to shield her face from the broken ceramic on the floor.

_No… Don't let this happen now!_

A strong arm encircled itself around her waist before she landed gracelessly on something solid. Surprised, she noted that she hadn't landed on the hard floor or the broken shards of the ceramic cup. She cracked open her eyes slowly to find herself pressed against Souji's chest, the black fabric of his _nagajuban_ soft against her jaw. The sharp scent of pine trees emanated from Souji and Chizuru couldn't help but thank that it was a fitting scent for him.

"Are you okay, Chizuru?" Souji's voice reverberated in his chest, making his words deeper and clearer in her ears.

"I-I'm fine. What about you? Are you injured?" Chizuru asked worriedly. "You landed on the broken cup, didn't you?" She pulled her face back from his chest as much as she was able with his arm still wrapped around her waist.

He laughed, the sound echoing in Chizuru's head. "I swept it aside with my other arm before I hit the ground. I'm fine." He held up his other arm, showing her the small cuts and tears on the sleeves of the outer kimono and the _nagajuban_.

"Souji, Chizuru, you're both okay then?" Heisuke's worried eyes darted over them.

Chizuru moved to stand up. Souji let his arm fall from her waist and tucked it into his outer kimono after standing up. Heisuke held a hand out to Chizuru, which she accepted gratefully.

Souji ruffled the brown hair on Heisuke's head. "We're both fine, no thanks to you."

Heisuke grumbled, trying to shoo away Souji's hand with his own. "Yeah, well…"

"Thank you, Souji," Chizuru said sincerely. _For giving me more time._ "Is there anything I can do?"

Souji waved her off. "There's nothing to thank me for. I'd rather not have to do that every time you decide to cook though." He smirked at her, one eye blinking closed in a discreet wink. "You can fix my clothes later, though, if you'd like."

"Okay." Chizuru nodded with a smile, turning to Heisuke. "Do you have another cup somewhere?"

"Definitely," he affirmed. "Let me find it."

He turned to the various cabinets on the walls and cracked them open while Chizuru went about setting chopsticks and cups on each of the trays. Despite her doubts, Heisuke and Souji had managed to give each person a fair share of noodles, tempura, vegetables, and _daikon_.

"Here you go, Chizuru." Heisuke caught her attention with the cup he held in his hand. "I think this is Sano-san's special cup, but I don't think he'll care."

"Oh, thank you." Chizuru accepted the light, red-painted cup carefully, filling it with boiling water and letting the _sencha _leaves steep for a few seconds before removing them and dropping them outside of the nearby window. She set the cup on the last tray without its own drink. "If you two can take out seven of these trays, I'll take out the last two. They'll be your trays, so leave your spaces empty."

"Hm? Do we get something special?" Souji raised his eyebrow while he began picking up multiple trays, eventually balancing two trays on each arm. Heisuke moved around him to pick up the last three designated trays.

Chizuru shrugged slightly and made to shoo them out of the room. "Heisuke, make sure you give Sano-san the one with his cup, please."

"Got it!" Heisuke grinned at her over his shoulder, one tray in his left hand and two trays on his right arm. He followed Souji out of the room. Chizuru listened to their footsteps echo down the hallway before turning to the two remaining trays.

_I think I saw some leftover rice in the pot from earlier…_

Sure enough, when she checked the pot next to the cooking fire, there was enough rice left there for two more _onigiri_. She recovered the fillings from earlier in the day and replaced them in the two new _onigiri_ she quickly rolled out. She paused for a moment, looking at the ceramic jar of _umeboshi_ and the cup of tea on one of the trays. She giggled to herself a bit before taking one of the dried plums and dropping it in the cup.

_A cup of umecha won't hurt him… much, if at all._

Satisfied, Chizuru picked up the two trays and walked out of the kitchen, making her way towards the dining room. Before she could reach the door, she saw Souji and Heisuke waiting outside the sliding door with all their trays still on their arms, inadvertently telling her that they hadn't served the food yet.

She padded up to them quietly, opening her mouth to question them when Souji and Heisuke shook their heads, with the latter trying to motion towards the door with his partially free left arm.

"Listen for a second," Heisuke mouthed to her.

She did so, opening her ears to the conversation inside the doors.

"… the hell are Souji and Heisuke taking so long with dinner?" Shinpachi's voice filtered through the door. Chizuru could imagine his stomach rumbling at that moment.

"Stop whining. I'm sure they'll bring it out eventually." Sano was the peacemaker between Shinpachi's mouth and his stomach at that point.

Chizuru heard Kondou's distinctly hearty laugh. "Well, for Nagakura-kun's sake, I hope that's soon. Even we Shinsengumi don't have the stamina to wait for too long on dinner, am I right?"

Souji straightened up. "That's our cue," he whispered, his voice nearly imperceptible due to the laughter coming from the other side of the door.

Chizuru took in a deep breath. "Excuse us!" She used her foot to slide open the paper-thin door, revealing the six other Shinsengumi officers - Sannan, Hijikata, Kondou, Shinpachi, Saitou, and Sano all turned their heads to her at the sound of her entrance.

"Oh, hey, Chizuru-chan," Shinpachi greeted her. "Did you have a nice rest?"

"You wouldn't happen to know where Souji and Heisuke are, would you?" Sano questioned, sitting back while leaning on the heel of his hand.

"We're right here!" Heisuke popped up behind Chizuru's left shoulder, leaving her right side open for Souji to appear.

"You took your time," Hijikata noted.

"Where's dinner? I'm starving," Shinpachi grumbled.

Heisuke rolled his eyes. "What's new? Besides, I think you should savor this dinner for once, instead of stuffing your face like you normally do."

Sannan allowed himself a small smile, seeming to have figured out the idea behind their small play. "Oh? And why might that be, Toudou-kun?"

"Because…"

"Chizuru made dinner." Souji finished Heisuke's statement and ushered the other two forward, revealing their arms, laden with trays full of food.

"Make room, make room!" Heisuke called. "These trays are heavy and it's not my fault if one falls on you."

"Heavy with what, exactly?" Saitou asked.

"Question for the chef," Souji said, smirking at Chizuru as he set a tray in front of both Saitou and Hijikata simultaneously.

"Erm… I made udon for the main dish. I used the udon broth to boil some vegetables for one side dish. Another is made of tempura mushrooms and potatoes. The last side dish is grated _daikon_ with soy sauce and vinegar. The tea is made with _sencha _leaves." Chizuru shifted on her feet while Heisuke and Souji took their seats. "I didn't make dessert because I thought it might compromise your metabolisms."

She moved to give Heisuke and Souji their respective trays while Sano said, "You should have just gone for it, Chizuru-chan. We all burn off whatever we eat - and then some - so there wouldn't have been a problem."

"Extra _onigiri _for us? That makes it all worth it," Souji said, laughing once he noticed the extra plate on his tray with the _onigiri _set in the middle.

"We have some?" Heisuke, distracted by the others' comments, looked down to the tray Chizuru had put before him. "Alright! Thanks, Chizuru!"

"What?" Shinpachi drew out the question in an injured way,. "Why do they get extra food?"

"They helped me arrange the trays. It was a lot of work," Chizuru said, trying to explain the lack of an _onigiri _on everyone else's trays after she'd sat down in her usual place between him and Sano.

Everyone picked up their chopsticks. "_Itadakimasu_!"

Slurping of noodles and crunching of tempura ensued. Chizuru could almost laugh at the expression of bliss on Shinpachi's face.

"You know, I say food tastes better with a bigger crowd, but it's not like it doesn't help if the food is really good too," Shinpachi said, eating by stuffing his face with one bite of each plate and washing it all down with a gulp of tea.

"Chizuru-chan, where'd you learn to cook so well?" Sano asked in between neater bites of udon, though he ate with just as much enthusiasm as Shinpachi.

"I was at home by myself often, so I taught myself how to cook to pass the time." She raised a piece of mushroom tempura to her lips, quietly satisfied with the crisp outer layer of batter.

"If that's not a productive use of time, I don't know what is," Souji commented, holding his cup of _umecha _to his mouth.

Everyone ate in a comfortable silence after that. Chizuru looked up from her bowl from time to time to see everyone enjoying the food. Even Saitou had a rather pleased look on his face. Sannan was actually eating, so she considered that to be an accomplishment. Kondou and Hijikata ate their food properly and quietly. As if to offset their manners, Shinpachi and Heisuke were doing all they could to eat quickly and noisily, despite Heisuke's earlier words of slowing down and enjoying the food. She could see Souji doing what she was, watching the others eat while he himself was eating. Their eyes met and she could see the amused smile forming on his lips.

"Oh, hey," Sano said in surprise. "You found my special tea cup." He lifted the ceramic cup into the air after taking a sip of the tea inside, letting the candle light highlight the red streaks of glaze on the outside.

Chizuru shook her head slightly. "That was Heisuke. He looked for it after we found we needed one more cup." She gestured to the shorter warrior, not noticing how Heisuke froze up.

Sano narrowed his eyes. "So _that's _why it's been missing for the past two months! Heisuke, where the hell did you hide it?"

Heisuke laughed nervously, scratching the back of his head with one hand. "Ah, Chizuru, you just ratted me out…"

Chizuru held her hands up to her mouth in mortification, her eyes going wide. "I'm sorry!"

Sano sighed and smiled at Chizuru. "It's fine, Chizuru-chan. You have nothing to be sorry for. On the other hand…" Sano tilted his head back to look past Shinpachi and Chizuru at Heisuke. "Heisuke can't complain if I decide not to pull a punch again."

Heisuke winced, as if he could already feel the bruises forming on his body.

In an effort to steer the conversation away from him and his imminent bodily harm, Heisuke said, "You really should cook more often, Chizuru." While he took bites out of his _onigiri _without pausing to swallow separately from his chewing, Chizuru could see Shinpachi eyeing the quickly disappearing rice ball from the corner of his eye.

She smiled. "I wouldn't mind. But I'm sure you have some form of rationing, as far as portions go, so I wouldn't make this kind of food all the time…"

"You're right. We do have regulated portions for each person," Hijikata told her, "and I'm fairly sure you just used about two day's worth of ingredients."

Chizuru blushed, a soft pink appearing on her cheeks. She tried to hide behind her teacup. _I knew something like this would happen._

Souji came to her rescue. "We only ration because none of us wants to be caught outside grocery shopping. So if you did that for us, we wouldn't have a problem with you cooking too much."

"She hasn't been given permission to leave headquarters," Saitou reminded him.

Souji shrugged. "I'm sure we can make an exception to save us the trouble." He glanced at Hijikata, hinting as to whom was supposed to make the aforementioned exception.

Hijikata sighed. "Regardless, this is a very good meal."

"You always were one for understatements, Toshi." Kondou laughed and clapped Hijikata on the shoulder. "Give Yukimura-kun a bit more credit."

"Indeed, this is an exceptionally prepared meal. I commend your cooking, Yukimura-kun." Sannan tilted his head towards Chizuru slightly.

"Ah… Thank you, but it was really nothing." Chizuru felt slightly embarrassed to be the subject of such praise. "I just wanted to be able to do something for everyone."

By then, everyone had finished eating. Each and every bowl, cup, and plate had been wiped clean. Shinpachi and Heisuke had somehow managed to make it through the meal without stealing each other's food. Both of the warriors seemed to be full, the first time Chizuru had seen them as such.

"Well, you've done so much that now we look bad. We'll clean up tonight," Souji declared.

The others agreed and stood up, trays in their hands. Souji walked over and took Chizuru's tray while she tried to protest. She followed the others out the door to the courtyard where the stone well was.

"But I made the food, so I should have to clean up the mess -"

"But we ate the food, so we should have to clean up the mess." Souji cut her off, smiling at her. "It's fine."

"But I-"

"None of that, Chizuru-chan," Sano told her, tapping her head with his free hand lightly. "You can watch us clean up if you want to, but we're not going to let you help."

Chizuru sighed and nodded.

She actually did end up watching the men wash their own dishes. She eventually had to hide her mouth behind her hand as she laughed when Heisuke decided he hadn't messed with Shinpachi enough for the night. The shorter warrior filled his dirty bowl and flung it at Shinpachi's face, completely dousing the older man with leftover broth and chilly well water. This incited an all-out water war between the two, with the rest of the men either trying to break them up or shield themselves from the splashing water. Hijikata managed to break them up and lectured them on the waste of water and potential for injury they'd created. Both Heisuke and Shinpachi ended up being the only ones at the well, now responsible for washing all of the dishes by themselves. Hijikata stood close by, watching them with narrowed eyes.

Chizuru found herself being walked back to her room, Souji close behind her.

"I thought you said you trusted me enough not to have to watch over me anymore," Chizuru commented.

"I don't think I have to watch over you because I think you won't run away, but I have to anyway because Hijikata-san told me I have to."

"Ah, I see."

Souji yawned behind his hand. "Either way, I don't mind. As long as I don't have to stay awake all night just to make sure you don't sneak out, I'm fine with it. It wouldn't really matter anyway, since you don't really have a reason to escape."

They had both stopped in front of Chizuru's room, standing on the edge of the platform that elevated the building from the ground. Both looked out to the courtyard, with the sky above darker than black silk, glittering with the crystalline pinpricks of stars shining far away. Higher up than before, the crescent moon shone as a graceful arc in the sky. Chizuru could fully appreciate the beauty of the night in the moment of comfortable silence.

"I suppose not," she agreed eventually. "Whenever you can, you can give me your clothes so I can mend them. I feel bad that I caused them to become ripped in the first place."

Souji held his sleeve up to the moonlight, letting the soft glow suffuse through the small holes and tears in the fabric. "Not a problem. I've had to replace these completely more than once because of some things that've happened on patrol, so it's not that much of a tragedy."

"Still…"

Souji lowered his arm and set his hand on her head. "Well, whatever. It was worth it to save our little chef."

Chizuru blushed. The warmth of his hand seemed to seep through her skin through the locks of hair on her head. "If Hijikata-san allows me to, I wouldn't mind going shopping in the markets for meals."

"Oh, that's not a problem. You know, they say that you can take over a man's heart through his stomach." Souji waved his hand airily. "If that's actually true, then you've got pretty much everyone here wrapped around your little finger."

Chizuru couldn't help but steal a glance at the shortest finger on her right hand at his statement. Souji's hand fell from her head to rest on her shoulder. She felt the weight on her shoulder increase and looked questioningly back at Souji.

The forest-eyed warrior simply smirked, his face level with hers from leaning down and using her shoulder as a brace.

"Next time, put two in the cup. It wasn't salty enough."

* * *

[A/N] - These get monstrously long, don't they…

Not quite sure when _Edge_ will come out at this point. It actually took me two weeks to get this chapter out: starting to type, stopping when my mom made me do stuff, stopping for school, stopping for work, stopping for me life in general… Can you see the start-to-stop ratio there? I can. It's kind of depressing.

Anyway, thanks for reading this far along! I personally really just can't grasp the fact I'm at Chapter 9 with this entire story being over 20,000 words… But what really shocks me is that _Maikaze _is this popular! You all give me the incentive I need to keep writing this! Thank you so much! _Domo arigato gozaimashita! Minna ga dai~suki dayo!_

(If you're looking for your review responses, skip the terminologies. But those terms help you with the story, so consider reading them!)

~ Some Japanese terminologies that will help you understand the chapter, in order of when they come up in the story:

~udon - thick, wheat-flour noodles normally served hot in soup - my personal favorite Japanese food next to sushi and sashimi. Don't make them the way I described here - you have to let the dough set before you can roll and cut it. Just assume Chizuru is enough of a good cook to let that step slide - besides, she needs to get this food out before people (namely Shinpachi, really) starve!

~tempura - a general name referring to battered and deep-fried vegetables and seafood. Hot oil is dangerous - be careful!

_~nihonshu_ - known as _sake_ to the English-speaking populace, an alcoholic beverage made from fermented rice with an alcohol content ranging from 15% to 20% - weaker than that of the other common Japanese alcoholic drink _shochu_, which has an alcohol content ranging from 25% to 30%_._

_~daikon_ - the big white radish you see at least once in every other anime/manga you see. Remember _Spirited Away_? The radish spirit? I'm fairly sure his mustache is made of two _daikon._

_~sencha_ - a type of Japanese whole-leaf tea, made without grinding the leaves into powder and instead steamed, rolled, and dried.

_~nagajuban_ - a kimono-shaped robe worn under a kimono to keep the kimono itself clean, usually worn so that only the collar is visible. Of course, Souji is too much of a bishie for that, so he wears it loosely to show his chest.

_~onigiri_ - rice ball. Who doesn't love rice balls?

_~umeboshi_ - dried plums that are _insanely _salty. Normally used for fillings in _onigiri_, but they can also be used to make a certain tea drink with supposedly refreshing sourness known as:

_~umecha_ - a tea drink made with _umeboshi _said to possess a refreshing sourness. I wasn't able to find much information on it, so please, don't try to make it the way Chizuru did. Because I'm fairly sure that's _not _how it's made.

* * *

For your review responses… There are a lot. THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Okita Souji Fan xD - Yes! It was a miracle! Thanks for liking my chapter and sticking with the story!

Arcee-chan - Thanks for your vote! I understand the sympathy behind it, and honestly, I can say I'm a little scared of doing that myself. I don't have confidence in my time-management skills. And I explained the little kitchen bit to you, but I still commend you for being a reasonable, perceptive reader!

KiraKiraKaya333 - Thanks for your vote! I appreciate your praise of my story! Those kinds of comments are what keep me going to write more, so thanks muchly!

PappilonBarajo - Thanks for reading! I have thought that myself… Definitely taking it into consideration now.

xXxWolvesInTheNightxXx - Thanks for your vote! Yes, Shinpachi and Heisuke make quite a pair of comedians. I hope you enjoy the banter in this chapter - I mostly did those scenes freehand since I hadn't written them in beforehand. I'm rather scared of writer's block too, but I still have my rough draft for now, so I'm lucky, right?

(There would be another review response here, but it was unsigned with no name for an anonymous reviewer… Thanks anyway!)

sleepyshiki501 - Thanks for your vote! Bedtime story… Never thought of it that way. Good change of perspective.

Litschi - Thanks for reviewing! I don't mind if they're late - you can take however long you want to enjoy the story. I'm still waiting on that longer review you promised~ Heehee.

LilyFragrance - To be honest, whenever I update a new chapter nowadays, I always look forward to your uber-long reviews, so I don't mind if it takes a while. They're like a little story in themselves and I'm glad you think this story is good enough to squander your time on them. But don't worry - everyone has brain farts - like me, when I try to remind myself to update this story. o3o  
… I think you're the only voter who used the letters. That's a bit funny to me for some reason. Thanks for voting! I understand your concern; frankly, I'm concerned for my wellbeing once I get that first chapter up. Reviewers are scary animals when they want to be… Determination I seem to lack at times, but we'll see what happens. (I always forget to do my summer homework, so I tend to start the class with a bad grade.)  
How can I not say nice things to you? You're my bestest (ignore the fact that's not a word) reviewer ever! I think it's important for the author to at least be courteous to the reviewers, as the reviewers should be to the author. I've had my share of stress and language blocks in my life, even though I've never had the trouble of teaching someone else a language. (The problem is my entire family is Vietnamese, and I just happen to not be able to speak or fully understand it.) I long for humorous situations where I actually get the joke though. xwx  
I'm sorry I couldn't get this up sooner, but I was actually waiting until your month of teaching was over. In hindsight, it would have made more sense to post it while you were teaching but… eh. Too late.  
I used a bit of that scene you mentioned, but in the kitchen. Isn't it so fluffy that you can sleep on it? I like to think so.  
It might have been the way I worded it, but I never intended to drop this story. o3o To me, this story is a mess, but I'm glad you think otherwise. Ahhhhh. Got it. I'm assuming Souji just likes to make a lot of different jokes. I just go along with them because they're funny and give him character. And yay for it being your favorite!  
Food makes up the bulk of jokes for Heisuke, I think. I expanded on the scene in the anime for that. Chizuru's getting a bit bolder than I thought she would. Anpan! With mochi inside! Reviews can be about food - I like food. *q* Yes, Hijikata's a bit harsh - I'm trying to lighten him up a bit, but he refuses to let go of the stick in - nevermind. Saitou strikes me as the cool, calm, quiet, collected type. I'm trying to reflect that in his dialogue.  
Personally, Sannan is my least favorite, but he does have his moments, so I kind of forgive him. Doesn't really change the fact he's a jerk more often than not. Writing this chapter made me hungry… Just assume Chizuru is an awesome cook. And assume that all of them have a genetically-set alarm clock or something.  
I try to make my chapters more and more epic, just for you (and the other readers, shhh.)! This one took a while, but it got past 5,000 this time as well! And no, I don't think I can beat your OVER-9000! epic chapter. o3o Go for it! At your rate, it's a possibility - at mine… Bleh.  
This was definitely not rushed. xwx And my responses get longer and longer. Might make people think the story is longer than it actually is…

XxRuroKenxX - Thanks for your praise and vote! All of it means a lot to me! I understand Chizuru's meekness in the anime, but like most Hakuouki fans, it annoyed me. And I haven't considered a love triangle, to be honest. I'm not sure where, what, or when the conflict in their relationship is, so we'll see. I haven't gotten so far as to think about Kaoru. He's included in my new story _Edge _for sure though. Yes, the anime is sad… The manga and games are just as sad, if not worse… I'm getting depressed.  
-smacks self- Better!  
I appreciate all opinions from my readers as long as they're polite and civil - so far I haven't had a problem with that, so yay! You've definitely made up for your other times of non-reviewing, so don't worry! I can't say this was updated _soon_, but it was updated. I don't plan on getting rid of you, my enthusiastic reader, but you have to keep faith that I'll update in these long pauses, 'kay? Thanks again!

oXinfiniteXspaceXo - Thanks for reviewing and voting! Planning on _Edge_, so it'll come out somehow. I'll try to make time, yeah?

SighingWinter - Thanks for reviewing and voting! I felt that Chizuru was a tiny bit straitlaced in the anime, so I did want to give her more character without making her one of those all-get-out heroines that are just far too unoriginal for my tastes. I've been considering different point of views, but I'm fairly sure I'll stick with Chizuru's with a few other people here and there, like I've been doing now. I'm already a bit overloaded as is.  
No, no! You couldn't possibly offend me! I just hope I don't offend you by responding so late! I do intend to add scenes, but a better word would be "expanding" on scenes that were already present. If it wasn't already obvious (because it is to me), I don't have a very vivid imagination, so most of the scenes I write may seem very cliché. I apologize if this is a bother to you. -bows-  
I will update! Somehow. _Edge _may be the one to come out next, so we'll have to see if I can get those creative brain cells going. Thank you for your high praise, and I'll do my best! Oh, and thanks for saying happy birthday. I dedicated a (I forgot which, spare me!) chapter to you for that~

Litschi - And I found your longer review! Long chapters take a long time, but I'm glad you like it! Yes, my terminology gets rather far in because I research stuff before I put it in the story. Actually, I didn't know I was making Heisuke and Chizuru seem like a pair… I wasn't planning on that, actually. -sweatdrop- We'll see what happens, yeah? Again, can't say this was updated soon, but I did my best~ Everyone's busy, including myself, so don't worry! Hijikata is a bit mean… Oh well. I hope I made him seem a bit better in this chapter. I could try that scene~ We'll see! Thanks again!

OueenieIzzy - Thanks for your review! You reiterate a point I've seen many of my reviewers say, which is understandable - it wouldn't be like that if I didn't think so either. I don't want Chizuru to be perfect - a Mary Sue, she'd be called - but rather flawed yet stronger for it. I try my best with grammar and spelling because I put about thirty percent of my faith in spell-check. I'm glad you appreciate it. So soon, after you wrote this review, you're lucky - you get this chapter!

* * *

_Thanks to Arcee-chan, xXxWolvesInTheNightxXx, yue14121990, vampirente (x2), phoenixflamemarauder, easily1994addicted, SighingWinter, vvnhonk, and QueenieIzzy for your mixed Favorite Stories, and Story and Author Alerts! Doing my best for you all too!_

* * *

Once again, I'm honored to dedicate this chapter to LilyFragrance for making me spend just as much time on her review response as the story itself! Just joking, but I appreciate it!

* * *

And review please! It'll make me happy and update faster!


	11. Duel

[A/N] - I keep having to reference my old chapters to see how I set these up. -facepalm-

Welcome back to Maikaze, the tenth (legitimate) chapter anniversary! Thanks to my readers and reviewers for helping me making this far!

Now, I know I said I'd have Edge out eventually. And it will be out. Eventually. Because I will be able to dredge up my nonexistent imaginative brain cells to type it out without a rough draft. Eventually.

In the meantime, I found some spare time this weekend to start typing this out for everyone's enjoyment. After finishing Ao no Exorcist (my new favorite anime) and starting Persona 4 : The Animation (squeeeee!), I found myself in a good enough mood to start slogging through this. Needless to say, my mood has gone down just a bit. o3o

While I was writing this, I noted just how near-sighted I am. I can sit less than two feet away from the screen and not be able to read it. -facedesk-

Oh, and I recommend reading this in ¾ page format. I personally think it makes it look cleaner.

**Edit: On 8/26/12, I made a few edits to this chapter, thanks to the wonderful insight of my many constructive-criticism-wielding reviews. Thanks to you all!**

* * *

A few more weeks had passed since Chizuru had made her first dinner for the Shinsengumi. Now in mid-spring, the flowers found themselves popping up from their dormant states and flourishing in the warm spring sunshine. Trees allowed their fresh, green leaves to appear from the branches to accompany the new, crisp colors that spring had invoked.

Within this symphony of colors and foliage in the courtyard of the headquarters of the Shinsengumi, Chizuru knelt next to a wooden wash basin near the stone-hewn well with her sleeves rolled up behind her elbows as she scrubbed at the uniform haoris of the Shinsengumi. She hummed contentedly at the blue and white fabric, stained with brown and black and red spots that she didn't really feel like wondering about where they came from. The sunshine had put her in a good mood from the moment she had woken up. She found that although she didn't mind the soft snow and bitter chill of winter, she enjoyed the warm air and bright sun of spring just as well.

Two other people kept her company while she worked away. Saitou stood to the side of the raised wooden platform above the ground, practicing kata in silent concentration as his blade passed through the air with controlled grace. The whistling sound of the sharp metal slicing through the air gave a melodic harmony to the sounds of chirping birds and rustling leaves.

Off to the side and out of the way of the swinging steel, Souji sat on the steps leading up to the wooden walkway, leaning against a wooden support beam. His eyes flickered back and forth between Saitou and Chizuru as he watched them with lazy attentiveness, his eyelids half open, half closed. Chizuru thought him as rather lazy, but knew that he'd join Saitou if he had been allowed to.

* * *

Before Souji had arrived, it had only been Chizuru and Saitou in the courtyard. Without saying a word, Saitou had simply begun his practice several steps away from where Chizuru was washing a stack of dirty haoris. After about four well-scrubbed haoris, the sound of footsteps on wood alerted the two in the courtyard of Souji's arrival.

"Morning, Hajime-kun, Chizuru-chan. Why are you up so early?" Souji asked, rubbing at the back of his neck with one hand and covering a massive yawn with the other.

"Good morning, Souji," Chizuru greeted him, looking up from the wavering reflection of her face in the cold water in the basin, while Saitou seemed to ignore him except for the inclination of his head in Souji's direction. "Heisuke told me that the uniforms could use a wash just before he and Shinpachi-san went out on their rounds after I woke up."

"Makes sense. I don't think we've ever washed those ourselves, to be honest." Souji shrugged, displaying the mild disdain that most of the Shinsengumi tended to have towards typical household chores other than cooking. His gaze flickered over to Saitou, seeming to notice that the violet-haired man was training for the first time. "Hey, Hajime-kun."

"What is it?" Saitou replied without taking his eyes off of the glinting blade moving effortlessly through the air.

"Feel like sparring?" Souji grinned, his hand on one of the hilts of his own swords as he spoke.

"I'd prefer not."

Souji made a disappointed sound, a frown surfacing on his face. "Aw. Why not?"

Saitou sighed shortly and finally turned to face Souji after sheathing his sword. "Because you'll get in my way."

Chizuru almost laughed at the scandalized look on Souji's face after Saitou's blunt statement. She held her mirth at bay, turning her back to the pair while Souji trudged back up onto the platform and sat down to watch Saitou continue his solo training and Chizuru's chores.

* * *

The memory of the recent event still brought a smile to Chizuru's lips when she glanced at Saitou out of the corner of her eye while she gave her numb hands a break from the chilly water. Her smile must have been larger than she'd thought, for Saitou met her gaze and intoned, "Is there something you'd like to say?"

Startled, Chizuru searched for a response that wouldn't find her on the dangerous end of the sword in Saitou's left hand. "Erm… I was actually… wondering if I'd be able to go outside the headquarters soon so that I could search for my father." She actually had, in fact, been thinking about whether or not she'd be let out of this unspoken "house arrest" she'd been placed under - that thought had just happened to become a handy way out in this situation.

Saitou didn't show any outward signs of having picked up on her white lie, resuming his kata and replying, "That is not possible. A number of people are trying to kill the Captain at this point in time. We do not have any soldiers to spare to offer you an escort."

Slightly disappointed, Chizuru turned her head to the side to shield her eyes with her hair. "I see…" _I wouldn't ever expect them to put my safety over Kondou-san's in any situation. Somehow, I don't feel as if I'd let them, either, if it turned out that way. _She thought of the kind, caring, and somewhat brash leader as something of a father figure to the Shinsengumi. _Maybe I could even say… their heart? I can't imagine them the way they are now without him._

Souji's thoughtful voice pulled her from her own thoughts. "Of course, you might be able to come with us while we run our rounds around town."

She turned to him hopefully. "Is that really possible? Would you really let me go with you?"

"Ah, but we're risking our lives when we're out on patrol," he added lazily, his eyes wandering around the courtyard. "Some unlucky idiots get themselves killed when they're not paying attention." He turned his head slightly to smirk at her. "At the very least, we'd need you to be able to defend yourself so that we won't have to come to your rescue if we happen to take you along."

Slightly indignant, Chizuru stated, "Even I know the art of self-defense…" She kept herself from huffing and crossing her arms like a little child, but only just. However, she did want to disclaim her skills, as to make sure they wouldn't think she was overconfident of her ability - it was quite the opposite, actually. "Granted, it was mostly self-taught while I traveled from Edo…"

Souji rolled his eyes mockingly. "Because that really showed when you got cornered the first time we picked you up."

Chizuru's mind instantly flashbacked to that cold, snowy night. Chased by two rogue rounin, she'd hidden behind a barrel, only to peek around its edge and find her pursuers slaughtered by ghastly, white-haired samurai wearing haoris similar to that of the Shinsengumi's uniform. They had been about to strike her down when… A blank formed in her memory. She remembered the same loss of recollection from when she'd been trying to defend herself from Shinpachi's probing questions several weeks before. Her memory simply seemed to drop off after the point in time where she'd seen the bloody blade being aimed at her own person.

"Souji." Saitou's crisp voice surprised Chizuru into looking up at the violet-haired man.

Taking it as a reprimand, Souji held up his hands in surrender.

"Yukimura-kun."

Chizuru was astonished at Saitou's utterance of her name. _I think that's the first time he's ever directly acknowledged me by name. _"Y-yes?"

"If you believe that you are capable of defending yourself should we take you on our rounds… Show me." Saitou turned to face her fully.

"… Show you? How?"

Souji's eyes lit up. "Hajime-kun, you're mean. You'll spar with her but not with me?"

"S-spar?" The word came out as an incredulous question. "I have to fight you?"

"It seems to be the most appropriate way to test your claim."

Chizuru was sure that being shocked so many times in a row was bad for her health. "But I…"

"You should go for it, Chizuru-chan," Souji urged her, laughing. "It'll be entertaining, for sure."

Saitou ignored Souji's comments. "You said that you desire to look for your father - so much so that you'd be willing to risk your life on our rounds. Compared to such a risk, this should not be so worrisome to you."

Despite her protests, she soon found herself facing Saitou, several steps away from the older man with her short sword drawn, weighing down her hands. Sano had soon joined Souji as an onlooker, and after learning of what was about to transpire, promptly sat down on the edge of the wooden platform to watch.

"There is no need to soften your blows," Saitou instructed her. "Attack from any direction."

Still at odds with the fact that she was about to fight someone who was clearly above her skill set, she murmured, "Ah, but I…"

"Is that sword at your waist merely for show?" Saitou subtly challenged her, keeping his voice as even as it always was.

"Of course not!" Chizuru exclaimed. "I just… you could die if I struck you with the edge of my sword, Saitou-san!"

He leveled his sapphire gaze at her without any hint of anger or amusement, while Souji and Sano began to laugh outright.

"It's amazing how you're afraid you might kill Hajime-kun," Souji explained in between bouts of laughter. "This is too good!"

"This isn't a laughing matter!" Chizuru cried, angry at their lack of concern for Saitou's wellbeing.

"Don't worry about it, Chizuru-chan," Sano said, retaining more composure than Souji. "You'll both be fine. Besides, if you do a good enough job with that sword of yours, you'll be able to come with us to look for your dad. Keep that in mind."

"If you are so concerned about your abilities, attack with the back of your sword," Saitou said.

"Oi, Hajime-kun, she could cut her own throat if you push her back far enough with her sword like that," Souji commented.

Chizuru glanced at her sword. Determinedly, she turned the gold-inlaid hilt around in her hands so that the sharp edge of the blade faced up towards her. She took her stance, her grip tightening on the smooth wood. A slight breeze circled through the courtyard, pulling at the ends of Saitou's white scarf and the loose strands of his violet hair. Chizuru felt the sleeves of her kimono pull away from her skin with the wind, making the fabric rasp against itself to add to the sound of the passing wind.

She perceived a silence in the world around her as she faced off with Saitou for a moment, watching him as he watched her. A sudden pull of the wind in Saitou's direction occurred as he rushed her with a swift draw of his sword from its sheath. She flicked her own blade up quickly to block him, the strands of hair handing in her face darkening to from obscure brown to pure black. The force of his blow drove her heels into the dirt beneath her as she tried to push him away from her, as well as the sharp blade from the soft flesh of her face, marginally succeeding just before he jumped back, eyeing her with a newfound caution.

Her ears picked up the murmurs from the two onlookers nearby, but she didn't acknowledge them, keeping her attention solely focused on the violet-haired man in front of her.

She watched with sharp eyes as Saitou sheathed his sword in preparation for another strike. Her instincts led her to make the initial move this time as she charged him with a fast swing to his side. Saitou braced himself slightly and drew his sword halfway out of its sheath to block her strike, letting it slide back into the wooden cover after she'd retreated. They could both feel the tremors the force of her blow had caused moments after they'd distanced themselves from each other.

Subconsciously deciding that striking and retreating was not the most efficient way to fight, Chizuru moved to fight Saitou close-range, approaching him at a slow walk with her sword in front of her. Once the pair of fighters had become close enough to place two swords between them from end to end, Chizuru unleashed a flurry of strikes on Saitou, not resting her arm once while he blocked and parried each and every one of her blows. Her strain-inducing blows wore down both of them, but neither fighter allowed the other to give in. Her arm grew heavy with each attack she dealt, but she ignored it in favor of searching for an opening that she could use to break through Saitou's defense.

She thought her chance had appeared after trading a few more blows and parries. Sweat was beginning to run down into her eyes and plaster her hair to the skin of her forehead. Saitou seemed to be under less stress than it took to walk over a bridge, but his brow was furrowed in concentration. Saitou made a quick slash at her right side, prompting her to pivot on her foot to spin back and distance herself from the cutting edge before rushing back to counterattack. However, she timed her swing incorrectly and, in the middle of attacking Saitou's arm, cut her own upper arm on his outstretched blade. She cried out in pain involuntarily and dropped her sword, falling to her knees.

There, the battle ended.

Saitou sheathed his sword and turned to face Chizuru, whose hair and eyes had reverted to their normal colorations after sheathing her sword. She slumped, clutching her upper arm tightly while warm, crimson blood oozed profusely from the deep cut. The violet-haired warrior stepped forward to stand in front of her before kneeling to her eye level. Gently, yet with surprising force, he moved her hand away from her shoulder to inspect the wound. She held back a whimper and flinched when he lightly prodded the unbroken skin around it.

"It's a fairly deep cut," Saitou noted. "It is clean, though. You understood how to use your blade and did not waver in your attempt to strike me."

Chizuru managed a pained smile in return to his underlying praise. She watched him curiously when he removed his hand from her shoulder to unwrap the white scarf around his neck.

"Ah, what are…?" She trailed off as he wound the pristine fabric around her bloody shoulder. "Saitou-san, you don't have to do that!" she protested, trying to draw her arm away from Saitou's steel grip in vain. "Your scarf will get all dirty…"

"It would be inconvenient if the Lieutenant deemed you proficient enough to join us in our rounds and you became ill with some infection to the extent where you wouldn't be able to go," Saitou murmured, tying up the ends of the scarf around her shoulder.

_I suppose that's his own way of saying that he's worried about my wellbeing… _Chizuru thought with a small smile. "Thank you, Saitou-san."

Saitou nodded and moved to stand up, leaning forward past her ear. She picked up the faintest murmur of his voice as he said, "I see now how you managed to keep yourself alive that night."

Chizuru froze while Saitou stood up straight and continued in a louder voice, "At the very least, you will not get in our way if we take you with us. However, the final decision is the Lieutenant's."

A slight incline of Saitou's head led Chizuru to look up towards the elevated wooden deck, where Hijikata now stood behind Souji and Sano, looking on impassively towards the pair in the grass of the courtyard.

"Come on, Hijikata-san," Souji said, leaning back on his palms and looking up at the older warrior. "She tried her best against Hajime-kun, and he gave her the go-ahead. That's pretty amazing, if you ask me."

"I'd let her go with us," Sano chipped in. "At least, it'll be more interesting for us if she comes along."

Hijikata sighed and crossed his arms. "Since you've proven yourself capable of defending yourself if something should happen while you are out, you are allowed to leave headquarters with the others when they leave on their rounds."

Chizuru hadn't been paying much attention to the men's conversation, still in shock and confusion because of Saitou's quiet statement. _I did what? _The question ran through her head over and over until Hijikata had stated that her freedom was actually hers. A bright smile appeared on Chizuru's face and she jumped up to bow towards Hijikata. "Thank you very much!"

"Hey, Chizuru-chan, watch your arm," Souji reminded her. "You don't want the wound to reopen again, do you?"

Chizuru stiffened for a moment and clasped the supposedly injured area of her shoulder that had long since stopped bothering her with the sting of its pain. "… Ah, thank you. I almost forgot about it, I was so excited."

"As for when you leave headquarters… You will go with whomever is patrolling the city during their round and you must obey the squad's leader at all times," Hijikata told her.

She nodded in agreement.

"I'm on patrol with Heisuke later today," Souji informed her. He turned around to look at Hijikata over his shoulder. "I'll abandon her if we get surrounded by rogue soldiers, okay?"

"W-what?" Chizuru furrowed her brows, frowning slightly.

"Of course it's not okay!" Hijikata pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed.

Souji chuckled. "Just remember, Chizuru-chan - if you try to escape or get in the way of our rounds, we'll kill you." His statement went unchallenged by Hijikata and he leveled his forest-green gaze at her.

Chizuru noticed the implications of his statement but decided to ignore them. _At this point, I think those jokes are just a part of his sense of humor… A slightly twisted one, at that. _"Okay," she agreed warily.

Souji got up from his seat, stretching languidly with his hands reaching for the wooden overhang while Hijikata crossed his arms once more and said, "To tell the truth, this isn't the best time to be sending you out with the patrols. The Chōshū have been acting suspiciously lately. However, there have been sightings around the city of someone who matches Koudou-san's description."

"Father's…?"

"I doubt out search for him will progress any further if we don't take this opportunity," he continued, "so you will be there to assist in finding and identifying him."

"Ah, thank you!" Chizuru said sincerely, bowing. "I'll do my best!"

* * *

[A/N] - Yes, I know it's short. ;^; I didn't really want to end it there, but the next section of my story won't flow well if I put it in this chapter.

2,000 words short of my last chapter and two weeks late, considering I'm trying for at least one chapter a month… I'm personally ashamed, so please don't chew me out for this. I've had a lot to do and it's just not coming to me that easily, writing this. One of my personal laments is that my school's carnival was pretty much rained out on, even though I was looking forward to it…

Well, I hope you enjoyed Chizuru's moment of action-spotlight. Tell me if there are typos! Until next time!

(You didn't really think I'd forget the review responses, right?)

* * *

xXxWolvesInTheNightxXx - Thanks! I had that purpose in mind.

QueenieIzzy - Ahaha, this time… not so lucky. -sweatdrop- I'm glad you think I did well with the cooking scene! I personally don't cook, so I had to do a lot of research and hope I got it right. Fluff is fluffy~ I don't actually know about the ending yet, to be honest. I've only planned it out half-way, to where my rough draft ends. So we'll see, hm?

Conrii - Ah, thanks for reviewing (twice)! I remember you from the first few chapters, and I was thinking that you'd left this story for dead. Eheheh. That scene required research, so I'm glad it's correct. I appreciate your kind criticism of my writing style - I try my best to make it as enjoyable to read as possible! Thank you for thinking so highly of my story!

ResonantWings - Thanks muchly! Soon is always controversial. And Edge… might come out soon. Maybe.

Litschi - Ahaha… yes, my chapters do seem to be getting farther and farther apart. Sorry… It's hard, picking favorites, I hope you know. D: Thanks for the typo noticing! Yes, the translations do seem to help people. Ehh, I'm not sure if I really have a true storyline right now - it's just the anime with the focus on Chizuru and Souji, really. But thank you for your praise!

The dream may or may not mean something. And Chizuru's hesitancy is part of her personality, normally. That line in the kitchen was thought up on a whim, so I'm glad you like it! As I said before, I'm not sure how they carried those trays but to fix it now would be awkward. Sorry…

And Souji likes umeboshi. She put umeboshi in the cup to make a drink out of them. Umeboshi are salty. Apparently, one wasn't salty enough. Heehee. Here's your update!

SighingWinter - Again, soon is in the eye of the beholder, but here you go! Thanks for liking my story!

paperplanes - The hunger was built into the story because I was hungry while I wrote it, yeah? Thanks for your praise - I try my best! Here's your new chapter - albeit somewhat late.

ChiisanaXStar - I guess I did a good job if people keep getting hungry, yeah? Edge will come out. Eventually, yeah?

echoingsky - Thank you for your review and praise! I don't even know where it's going, so we can enjoy the plot together! …Ergh. Soon is becoming my worst enemy. Soon is relative, but here you go!

LilyFragrance - I have to strap myself down for this review response. x3 (Part of this will be sent in a message to you.)

I did think the dream was cliché, but I couldn't do much about it. It's how it was in my draft. I read a lot, so I pick up my vocab that way. :3 Yes, but I've only described Okita with forest-green eyes. x3 He came in to wake her up, but just decided to sit around. Those two were supposed to only insult Shinpachi, but I made it so that Chizuru saw through their little act. o3o And, yes, on its own, it sounds wrong, but he does mean the threatening. I had to research that noodle-making myself, so I'm glad it came out well. I've never seen it made myself. And I made up some of that stuff, but if it sounds good… I can't say much for mushrooms either. Bleh. But typical Japanese meals have three side dishes, so I needed something else. You mentioned that falling-on-Okita part in your last review, I think, so I put it in, just with a different setting and circumstances. You see so many innuendos in this, it's pretty funny. xD I don't think they're that salty either, but eh. Hungry, hungry~

I take ceramics in school, so I decided to use some of the things I've seen myself for that small part. I can rent out Chizuru, but I won't pay for life insurance. Or your hospital bill when Okita finds you. I'm totally setting up for a shopping scene. It's in my mind~ And yes, Chizuru is an awesome cook. But clumsy. My way of not making her into a Mary Sue. Wash those dishes, men! xD Again, that scene was thought up on the spot. It's a rather short description of the sky, but I'm glad you like it! It's definitely getting colder, rainier, and cloudier here too, as I mentioned before. Okita does have nice clothes… Me wants. Their hearts are connected to their stomachs - must cause some really bad heartburn, huh… -random thought is random-

Oh my gosh, your poor tastebuds! -tear- But I don't know how salty they are, since most of these things, I haven't had firsthand experience in… ORZ. I enjoy dedicating chapters to you! Don't worry! And thanks again! My reply is a puzzle too. -heehee-

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Thanks to QueenieIzzy (x2), Ms.'.Bloody Rose, sync94, Xxamuto loverxX (x3!), CeriseSkies, Queen of Seiryuu, and Starian NightZz (x2) for your Story Alerts, Favorite Stories, Favorite Authors, and Author Alerts! They mean BUNCHES to me!

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A bird just flew into my window. Twice. Aw.

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Review please! x3


	12. Discovery

[A/N] - Hi~ Read this please?

Oh my gosh, it's been so long. -glomps readers- I missed you all! Somehow I managed to be so busy that I haven't updated this for... well, the better part of a year. For that, I sincerely apologize.

That being said, there's no way I can manage to have what most would consider to be a normal updating schedule for this. It'll probably be whenever I have time and am not dead tired from all my other obligations.

But I did indeed miss writing this story for my OTP.

So please, enjoy the eleventh chapter of Maikaze!

**Recommendations:** Read in 3/4th page size. I personally think it looks cleaner that way.

**Disclaimer:** All this time has passed and I still don't own Hakuouki in any way, shape, or form. ;-;

* * *

"Oi, Chizuru-chan. We're getting ready to leave now."

Chizuru heard Souji's voice outside the door of her room, where she'd returned after receiving what was essentially Hijikata's permission to leave headquarters.

"Oh, already? Give me a moment," she replied, standing up from where'd she'd been sitting to rest a bit and securing her short sword at her waist.

"'Already?'" Souji repeated, chuckling. She could practically hear the smirk in his voice when he said, "If I were an enemy here to cut you down, you would have been dead on the floor a while ago. You shouldn't say something like 'already.'"

Indeed, when she slid open the door to reveal Souji, she found him to be wearing the signature blue haori of the Shinsengumi, as well as a smirk on his face, to which she sighed in response.

"Sorry for taking so long," she murmured, perhaps not putting as much remorse as she should have into the apology. She took a cursory glance around the hall to find that Souji was the only person there. "Where's Heisuke? You said he'd be doing the rounds today too, right?"

Souji started walking away from the room towards the gate that led from the headquarters out to the city streets. Chizuru followed after him, straining a bit to keep up with his longer strides. She tried to keep herself from tripping while listening to what Souji was saying at the same time.

"I did, but I meant that Heisuke would be doing some rounds today, not really that he was going to go with us." Souji looked over his shoulder at her with a slight, sideways smile. "Disappointed?"

"Er… no. Just curious." She wasn't disappointed – that wasn't the right word. _Maybe… apprehensive?_

Souji laughed, turning to face front again. "Very convincing. Hijikata-san actually told me that he wanted you to go with me and the First Division instead of with Heisuke and the Eighth."

"Why is that?" Chizuru found that slightly puzzling.

"He's going on the night rounds. Hijikata-san figured that it'd be enough of a pain to watch you during the day, let alone at night, so he stuck me with you so you can go around while the sun's out."

Chizuru felt that she should be offended at the way he was talking about her, as if she were a burden, but she also knew that the inflection his words had were true. She wasn't exactly a waste of space, but she couldn't call herself an asset, either. _Hijikata-san has good foresight, at the very least. I don't think I'd want to wander around Kyoto at night anyway, even if I went with Heisuke._

"That makes sense."

"Doesn't it? He's such a nice demon of a commander too, making it easier for me to watch you and harder to do the rounds." They had reached the courtyard just inside the gates where Chizuru saw some familiar faces milling around in the mild spring sunshine. She didn't know them by name, but she bowed when they passed by her after Souji called out, "First Division, fall in! We're heading out now."

All of the men in their blue coats filed out the gate and into the network of streets towards Kyoto's main street. Souji and Chizuru followed the loose procession from the back, their footsteps measured and rhythmic.

"I'm surprised you still wanted to go on the rounds," Souji mused aloud after several minutes. "You got a pretty nasty cut on your arm from Hajime-kun."

"That wasn't Saitou-san's fault – I was careless and made a mistake," she argued.

Souji hummed noncommittally. "You managed to hold your own pretty well in the beginning – even though I was expecting you to cut yourself sooner, with the way you were swinging around your backwards sword."

"Backwards, you say…" Chizuru's brows drew together slightly. "If I was fighting as well as you said, then isn't it a good thing I was holding my sword that way?"

"Who knows? You _are _the one with the cut, after all. Swinging your arm around like that isn't going to make it close any faster though." He waved his hand lazily at her arms, swinging by her sides in time with her walk.

"I can't help it." She rubbed at the arm with Saitou's scarf still wrapped around it. _I'll have to wash this before I give it back to him._ "Just look - there are so many people around!"

Indeed, the streets were bustling, people moving to and from different stores and building, socializing and all around having a good time. They did, however, shoot the Shinsengumi in their infamous blue haoris glares and glances of disdain, quieting whenever they passed by and keeping their voices to a low mutter until they were out of their general space.

"The Gion Festival is coming up soon, so I'll give you that, but really? It's the main city street. What did you expect?" Souji seemed amused by her excitement.

"… Nothing, much, really, but I guess I'm just excited to be outside." Chizuru was embarrassed. _I know it's nothing spectacular to be so happy about, but still – I can't help it. I guess being in the headquarters desensitized me to the feeling of being in a crowd._

"Well, Hijikata-san did keep you locked up for the better part of three months," Souji admitted, echoing her thoughts in his statement.

"That's true, but at least he thought about my well-being before letting me go."

He raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Where'd you pull that from?"

Chizuru adopted a stance with one hand tucked under one arm and the other hand moving around to emphasize her point, continuing her measured pace forward. "You said it earlier – he didn't want me to go at night when it's more dangerous, so he told you to take me with you during the day when it's light out."

She believed her reasoning was sound, but it invoked a bout of laughter from Souji. She huffed a bit when he hid his mouth behind his hand, a half-baked attempt at masking his mirth. "Sorry, sorry," he said, chuckles still slipping past his lips even as he spoke. "Just – you see it so positively, it was kind of a shock to me."

"Is that a bad thing?" She frowned a bit.

"Not really," he replied airily. "Like I said before, we're risking our lives on these rounds, day or night, so whichever one you go on doesn't really make a difference. Not to mention, I don't really associate that way of thinking with Hijikata-san, either."

"If you say so…" _I can't challenge that – they must've known each other for a very long time before I even thought of coming to Kyoto. _"Oh, is it okay if I talk to some of the people around here?" She gestured to the people on the sides of the street that they were walking down. "They might've seen my father here."

A thoughtful look crossed Souji's face. "That's fine, I guess. Just don't stray too far away or I might not be able to pull your ass out of the fire when you find it."

"… Okay."

'_When I find it?' Shouldn't he have said 'when it finds me?'_

Keeping his cautionary words in the back of her mind, she drifted away from the rest of the First Division to approach some of the townspeople that weren't as intimidated by the Shinsengumi as some of the others who'd ducked into alleyways and small stores to avoid them.

"Excuse me… Sorry to bother you, but have you seen a man in his forties around here? He's bald and speaks with an Edo accent." She repeated this to several people, most of whom apologized to her and said they hadn't seen him. After a period of fruitless questions, she finally found someone who could answer her in the positive.

"Ah, I think I have seen someone like that," one man replied to her, smiling at her a bit. "If I remember right, he was heading to Masu-san's store." He pointed to a sunlit storefront in one of the alleys branching off the main street.

"Really?" Chizuru was elated. "Thank you very much!"

She caught Souji's eye after that, seeing him where he stood several steps away. He seemed to give her a warning glance before a yell cut through the low murmur of the people that'd made up the background noise of the street.

"You! Are you a rogue rounin? State your domain and name or you will be arrested!"

High-pitched screams and loud curses followed the declaration from one of the Shinsengumi's soldiers confronting someone in the street. Chizuru could see Souji's mouth form a 'tch' of annoyance before a surge of people running away from the street pulled her away from him.

"Wait – excuse me, can I –!" She tried moving against the flood of people to make her way back to Souji and the Shinsengumi, but she might as well have been pushing against a stone wall for all the progress she was making.

Sighing in frustration, she picked up the motion of someone waving at her from the corner of her eye and managed to slip into the alley where a kindly-looking old man was gesturing for her to come closer.

"You don't want to be close to that, boy. You're free to wait here while this blows over."

"Ah, thank you…" Wary but grateful, Chizuru made her way over to the store that the man was sitting in front of and noticed a length of cloth hanging next to the entrance. Her eyes widened when she read the characters painted on the makeshift banner and asked the old man, "Could you be… the owner of this store – Masu-san?"

"I am." He nodded.

"Oh, that's great! Actually, I wanted to ask you if you've seen –"

"K-Keimon-san!" One of the customers of the store suddenly yelled, standing up from his seat suddenly. "That kid – I saw him with that Okita from the Shinsengumi!"

The old man's demeanor changed in a flash, his amicable smile disappearing and a panicked look appearing on his face. "W-what!?"

Most, if not all the men in the store got up from their seats and made a mad dash to the door, shoving past Chizuru and elbowing her in the ribs and shoulder in their haste to get away. Chizuru was about to ask what was going on before she felt someone's presence behind her. She turned around and exclaimed, "Souji-san!"

The russet-haired First Division captain smirked down at her, a hand on his sword while he effectively blocked all the men in the store from leaving. "You seriously have the worst luck. How you managed to make something like this happen, you'll have to explain later."

"But I don't even –"

He grabbed her by the shoulder firmly and pushed her out of the store, where she saw more of the First Division behind him.

"Well, you're in trouble," she heard Souji announce to the men in the store. A collective hiss of swords being drawn echoed in the street before the Shinsengumi rushed into the store, starting a brawl that would last for several long, confused minutes as far as Chizuru was concerned.

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Back at the Shinsengumi's headquarters, Chizuru found herself being led to the meeting room by Gen-san, who opened the door to reveal that most of the Shinsengumi's captains, as well as Sannan, Yamazaki and Shimada had gathered together. Sitting ahead of the other captains was Souji, apparently getting an earful from Sannan. Not quite sure what to do, Chizuru sat next to him, feeling that whatever Sannan was reprimanding him for was her fault.

"Like I said, it wasn't like I had a choice," Souji said, evidently annoyed. "Would you've rather had me let all those Chōshū escape from under our noses?"

Sannan's brows drew together, a frown bringing the corners of his mouth down. "I believe I'd already told you that we were letting Furutaka Shuntaro operate that store under the name Masu Keimon in order to observe his movements and gather information on the enemy. Despite that, you found it necessary to attack him?"

Heisuke decided to add, "Well, I mean, don't you feel sorry for Yamazaki-kun and Shimada-kun? They were the ones in charge of watching that store every single day, so I figure Souji did them a favor."

A stern glare from Sannan made Heisuke settle back down, but Yamazaki decided to speak as well. "In truth, we haven't been getting anywhere at Masu's for the past few days."

Shimada nodded. "We would have spoken to the Vice Commander about it soon, so I think all Captain Okita did was shortcut the process a bit."

Shinpachi, sitting towards the back along with Heisuke and Sano, chuckled a bit. "Man, you two are so easy-going. Souji, on the other hand…"

"We ended up arresting him." Souji folded his arms, a bit of petulance permeating the movement. "It's not like it was for nothing."

Sannan opened his mouth to rebuke Souji's statement, but Chizuru couldn't stand for Souji to take all the criticism because of something she'd incited. "It's not his fault." Sannan turned his attention to her and she felt herself shrink back from his cold eyes. "After that confrontation in the street, there were so many people running away from there, I got separated from him in the crowd. I should have gone back to him right away, but instead I ended up going to the store because I'd heard someone had seen my father there… They recognized me from when I was walking on the rounds with the others and –"

"Be as that may, whose job was it to look after you?" Sannan's frown deepened. "Even with such a simple assignment as keeping track of a single charge… Is this the best a captain of the Shinsengumi can do?"

Chizuru felt horrible by that point – it just seemed to be that no one could placate him, even if they thought his anger was unfounded. She didn't know what to say.

"If there's anyone to blame, it's me. I'm the one who let her go." This statement came after the door slid open for everyone to see Hijikata standing behind it, a stern look on his face.

Chizuru thought Sannan still seemed like he wanted to say something, but with the commander's presence and admittance, he settled down a bit onto his heels and sighed through his nose. In the meanwhile Hijikata strode over to the empty spot next to Sannan and sat down almost ungracefully, with a loud exhalation.

"Hijikata-san, if you're here, that means you're done interrogating Furutaka now, right?" Sano asked.

Hijikata was silent for a moment before nodding once. "… They're planning to set the city on fire on a windy day, to let it carry the flames, and to kidnap the emperor in the panic."

A stunned silence met his words. Even Sannan, in his stony disapproval, seemed shaken.

Heisuke was the first to speak up. "Kidnap the emperor? But aren't they imperialists? That kind of goes against that whole idea, right?"

"I don't know what they're thinking, but I do know that they're going to plan a meeting for tonight, now that we've captured Furutaka." Hijikata crossed his arms. "They won't want to stay in Kyoto for much longer – they've most likely already assumed that we've forced this information out of him."

He looked at Chizuru out of the corner of his eye, then turned to face her fully. "We also got some information on Kōdō out of him. Apparently, a man matching his description visited that store flanked by a group of men from Chōshū."

That shocked Chizuru. "But… But, isn't my father loyal to the shogunate?" Her voice was faint as she asked the question, expressing her confusion. "Why would he be with imperialist men?"

Hijikata shook his head, silently telling her and everyone else that he didn't know the answer to her question. He turned his attention back to the other men in the room and said, "We'll have to act tonight, before the Chōshū run out of the city. We won't be able to catch them if they do."

"We're going to go raid them, then?" Shinpachi's excited question elicited a nod from Hijikata and the room broke out into ecstatic activity.

Everyone seemed ready and raring to go – except for Chizuru, who was still lost in the fact that her father could be with the men the Shinsengumi were so eagerly preparing to kill.

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[A/N] - Ah. Refreshing, to be able to write this.

I hope there aren't any inaccuracies or typos within this. It's been a while since I watched the first season, though I have watched the third and the OVAs recently.

I don't know how popular this series is anymore, but please, if you take the time to read this, leave a review as well. It's just me being personally selfish, but I do need something in my e-mail to encourage me or make me smile a bit these days.

But of course, thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and have a wonderful until-the-next-chapter!


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